In the publishing world in the 1980s, as the number of publications
increased, visual expression came to be more pronounced in both magazines
and books. How did this change in publishing media affect the content of the
publications and their authors? By focusing on the case of Amino Yoshihiko
(1928-2004)―a historian on the Japanese Middle Ages―this article
examines the relationship between published media in the 1980s and the
visualization of history. In particular, it explores the extent to which Amino’s
commitment to visualizing history was of his own accord.
This article analyzes publications by Amino from the 1980s to elucidate
how his history books were connected with visual expression in the process of
their production. After receiving opportunities to write in a PR magazine pub
lished by a company, he began to write on the subject of color and costume
in history. Afterward, he acquired knowledge on historical paintings while
proofreading the Pictopedia of Everyday Life in Medieval Japan, New Edition(
1984), and he made the best use of this experience to write his own book
The Grotesque Emperor( 1986), which became one of his primary works.
After writing The Grotesque Emperor, he collaborated with a painter to
produce a picture book for children and participated in two large-scale
projects featuring visual expression. This article reveals that although he was
reluctant to commit to the work of visualizing history initially, he deepened
his understanding of the subject through various publishing projects.
Additionally, the publishing projects that he participated in grew in scale and
required more initiative. This article also found that Amino collaborated with
editors as well as at times a painter to complete all of his works, as early as
the proposal stage.
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