Browse Items (573 total)

Ruins of the Yuan Ming Yuan (Summer Palace), photographed by Thomas Childe in 1875. On October 18, 1860, Britain's Lord Elgin ordered his troops to destroy the summer palace designed by Jesuit architects for Emperor Qianlong. That same day, the…

Ink and color painted I\image of the Tokugawa-era emperor Go-Mizunoo. The two poems were copied from inscriptions on other portraits of the emperor. The translation by Watanabe Akiyoshi is as follows: "Painful, this/withered tree fence hidden/ in the…

Leftmost: This blade, somewhat shorter than the typical katana, was forged by Musashi daijo Tadahiro. Blades from school he founded, known as Hizen to, are characterized by a fine itame (woodgrain) surface and temper lines that are either straight…

Essay by Emperor Qianlong (reign 1736-1795) on Yueh I, handscroll. The text discusses the virtuous conduct of Yueh I, a general of the Warring States period who defected from the state of Yen, which he had served loyally, after losing the confidence…

Although there is no consensus on which church is represented in this fan painting, most believe it to be the one on Shijobomon, due to its unusual three-story construction. This painting was among a series of sixty-one fans painted by Kano Shoshu,…

Detail from Yu Ho's essay on Yueh I. The text discusses the virtuous conduct of Yueh I, a general of the Warring States period who defected from the state of Yen, which he had served loyally, after losing the confidence of his ruler.

Woodlblock print of moonlight on the Sumida River in Japan. Boaters are backlit with gradation of tones highlighting a temple pagoda in the distance.

Photograph of series of white stone gates behind the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, Temple of Heaven, Beijing.

Photograph of the tower at old entrance to the Forbidden City in Beijing.

St. Olaf student Phong Do (Class of 2005) enjoys a sweet-and-sour-fish tail in China, Interim 2003.