Exemplary Things

Meibutsu in Premodern Japan

Christine M. E. Guth

$110

Paperback

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English

Princeton University Press
11 November 2025

Theory of art; History of Art & Design Styles; Asian history; Material culture

A beautifully illustrated history of one of the most important cultural categories in Japan

The Japanese term meibutsu refers to things of the highest cultural value, evolving over time to encompass both craft and fine art, high and low culture, and manufactured and natural items. Material goods designated as meibutsu range from precious art objects to regional products like bamboo baskets and ceramics. Exemplary Things traces the history of this epistemic classificatory system in Japanese culture from its elite origins in the fifteenth century to its commercial appropriation today.

Christine Guth explores the use of meibutsu to designate famous things (especially in the elevated context of tea practice), the term's institutionalization, and its popularization through print media and replicas (utsushi), and discusses how the term was used in critiques of the extravagance associated with collecting these costly treasures. She looks at the intertwined histories of meibutsu swords, incense, and tea utensils, focusing on their identities and agency as things with personal names. Guth explains how meibutsu evolved from a culture of tributes, taxes, and gift giving associated with a sense of place into a term essential to cultural literacy, and how Japan's modern legislation for the protection of its national treasures (kokuh) drew on this legacy.

With stunning illustrations, Exemplary Things casts the art history of Japan in a new light, showing how the concept of meibutsu blurs the lines between economic value, cultural and aesthetic worth, and the furtherance of political power.

Published in association with the P. Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art at Princeton University

By: Christine M. E. Guth
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 254mm, Width: 178mm,
ISBN: 9780691274478
ISBN 10: 0691274479
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 11 November 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Christine M. E. Guth led the Asian specialism in the Victoria and Albert Museum and Royal College of Art's History of Design Program from 2007 to 2016. Her books include Art, Tea, and Industry: Masuda Takashi and the Mitsui Circle (Princeton); Art of Edo Japan: The Artist and the City 16151868; and Hokusai's Great Wave: Biography of a Global Icon.

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Exemplary Things

Meibutsu in Premodern Japan

Christine M. E. Guth

$110

Paperback

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