In the history of Japanese culture, whether traditional poetry (waka) or religious icons or animal portraiture, the means by which cultural artifacts are produced bear a sometimes complicated relationship to the production of meaning through said artifacts. Stoneman will take us through examples of classical Japanese art to show us this relationship.

Jack Stoneman is Associate Professor of Asian and Near Asian Languages at Brigham Young University. He is currently researching late-Heian-period Japanese poet and priest Saigyō (1118-1190). His areas of interest include Japanese poetry, Saigyō (1118-1190) as poet and cultural figure, Japanese literati culture, and ceramics. He is also involved in cataloging and curating the Harry F. Bruning Collection of rare books and manuscripts at BYU.