Status Updates From A History of Japanese Art: ...

It's also pretty lazy of Graham not to
A. Correct Tsuda's (numerous!) misspellings
and
B. To keep the antiquated romanization on Japanese words and proper nouns.
Really, what's the point of an edited updated version if the editor doesn't do anything!? At this point, just publish his 1935 version and GO! If you couldn't tell, I'm pretty disappointed by the way this book was handled.

The editor/updater, Patricia Graham, mentioned in the preface that Tsuda's book contains some errors. So then: why is she not mentioning these inaccuracies in endnotes or footnotes!? Honestly, >I< can recognize the errors, but it is a bit irresponsible to leave a beginner to Japanese art clueless what is correct and what has been disproven. For heavens' sakes! 😠

One of my complaints is that the illustrations don't have the dates of the objects in the labels below. It's nice that they're named and the location is given, but at least approximate dates would be nice. There is a world of difference between early and late Heian sculptures, for example.

One really excellent feature of this book is that Tsuda describes art-making techniques in such detail! In particular, I enjoyed the texture dyeing methods done for Nara Period textiles. Super intriguing!

I'm a bit disappointed to find out that Tsuda's intro to Japanese art history is not the most accurate one. I didn't really like Stanley-Baker's version and was hoping that Tsuda's was better written. Ah, well. For a super beginner book, this is fine. I guess I'll end up getting Mason's version after all, even if I can't lug it around and read it on the go. (゜-゜)