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The Japanese term, 写 can be translated as, appropriation, Imitation, inspiration, attribution, etc. However, the word Utsushi encompasses the meanings found in all the terms mentioned. An Utsushi can be a work where an artist is inspired by a traditional motif and incorporates the design in a work of art or the artist is emulating a masterpiece of the past to surpass the original subtly.
In Japan today, the meaning found in the term Utsushi is slowly fading and being misinterpreted or wrongly associated with the term, 模造 which means to copy or reproduce. Utsushi is simply not copying or reproducing a masterpiece or motif from the past. Instead, Utsushi promotes a dialogue between the artist and the masters of the past, connecting past, present, and future.
For nearly a millennium prior to the invention of printing or photographic reproduction, the process of multiple recension was the primary method of preserving literary, religious, and artistic tradition. Thus, copying was the purview not of artists in training but of seasoned veterans.
Additionally, the process of Utsushi can be seen in Japanese poetry. 本歌取り, or allusive variation, is a classical poetic technique that dates back to the Heian Period. Poets construct their skills through the study of works by past masters. Once the knowledge has been absorbed so deeply that it is part of the poets' psyche, then they may quote another poet's work into their own verse without losing individuality or creativity. Also the poet expects the reader to be well versed, and to understand both quotation and originality, where “a poetic work the added weight of tradition while preventing it from being a smug expression of personal conceit.”
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