The Eyes of Power: Art and Early Tokugawa Authority

"In her very interesting and provocative book, Gerhart considers a number of artistic sites as defining the Tokugawa 'political agenda'. Among these are the Ninomaru (Nijo) Palace, Nagoya Castle and the Nikko ... Mausoleum (the resting place of Ieyasu)." --Donald Richie, Japan Times, 23 November 1999 "As a title, The Eyes of Power suggests a role for art and architecture as tools of shogunal surveillance and suppression. In this book we find instead artistic ingenuity employed to provide a new establishment with a credible, even exultant, visual ideology." --Monumenta Nipponica 56 (2001) "Gerhart is to be commended for choosing a big subject and putting it together in a readable fashion. The book will serve diverse constituencies, including undergraduate and graduate students, specialists in art history, and those who want to learn more about how the visual trappings of power were constructed by the early 17th-century Japanese elite." --CAA.reviews