Japanese Painting and National Identity: Okakura Tenshin and His Circle describes the efforts of art theorist and educator Okakura Tenshin (1862–1913) to develop a national painting style in Japan during the Meiji era (1868–1912). It focuses on the ways in which that goal manifested itself in the educational institutions and painting themes and styles he was involved in creating in association with his collaborator Ernest Fenollosa (1853–1908). Victoria Weston’s extensive research, coupled with her concise writing style, places Okakura and his group within the heightened consciousness of national identity that defines the Meiji era and adds depth to an understanding of how that period’s strategies for national identity construction applied to art making and art criticism. One of the primary catalysts for political change in Japan in the mid-nineteenth century was the introduction of Western concepts of nation building. During the Edo period (1615–1868), the ruling Tokugawa shogunate’s governing power came from its domestic military and financial supremacy over other warrior elites. During roughly the same period, European and American nations began securing their economic and political strength internationally through colonization and through aggressive promotion of their national identities. The shogunate did not have the financial or political capital to...