Exam 14: Cultures of Splendor and Power 1500-1780

Correct Answer:

Verified

In both Tokugawa Japan and Enlightenment-era Western Europe,elite cultural practices and institutions coexisted with flourishing popular cultures.In both cases,elite culture reflected the patronage of royalty,religious institutions,the aristocracy,and,in the Japanese case,the shogunate.European elites patronized science,collected art,and supported the work of Enlightenment intellectuals.In Japan,they patronized arts like the masked Noh theater and the tea ceremony,encouraged schools for actors and tea masters,and participated in art forms like calligraphy.Neither group of elites was able fully to control cultural activity,however.In urban Japan,ukiyo or "floating world" culture developed,centered around an alternative set of institutions and performers such as kabuki theater and female geisha entertainers.Although the shogunate attempted to control it,for example by outlawing female actors from performing on stage,it was unable to reassert total control over a world in which people who were generally considered to have low morals (like actors,courtesans,and musicians)were idolized,while higher status individuals like samurai were required to leave their status symbols,their swords,behind when they entered.Likewise,the rise of literacy in Japan and the proliferation of booksellers and lenders made it difficult for the shogunate to censor critical publications. Western Europe also experienced the rise of a raucous popular literary culture,including pamphlets charging corruption and financial wrongdoing,bawdy bestsellers,political satire,and works that combined them,like pornographic attacks on the French royal family.Rising literacy rates also encouraged the growth of coffeehouse culture,where aristocrats and businessmen could discuss politics,finance,and technologies; and salons,where hostesses gathered philosophers,writers,gossips,and others to exchange ideas.This range of activities extended across the Atlantic to Europe's American colonies,where creole societies emulated the architecture,arts,and fashion of their home countries and used the philosophy of the Enlightenment to justify their own demands for equality and autonomy.The cultural developments of the Enlightenment era,centered on port cities and commercial centers,reflected Europe's expansiveness and need to respond to change.Japan,while less expansive,was more open to outside influences than were other Asian states.Although attachment to Japanese tradition remained an important part of both elite culture and popular culture,it was traditionally connected to China,and willing to learn from the West,through its Dutch trade partners,as well.Within the kingdom,expanded exchange networks allowed new ideas to be integrated into a broader cross section of Japan.