The Arts

Literature. Japan has a rich literary heritage. Much of the country's literature deals with the fleeting quality of human life and the never-ending flow of time. Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting to the empress, wrote The Tale of Genji during the early 1000's. This long novel is generally considered the greatest work of Japanese fiction and possibly the world's first novel.

Sculpture. Some of the earliest Japanese sculptures were haniwa, small clay figures made from the A.D. 200's to 500's. Haniwa were placed in the burial mounds of important Japanese people. The figures represented animals, servants, warriors, weapons, and objects of everyday use. Great Buddha in Kamakura Japanese sculptors created some of their finest works for Buddhist temples. The sculptors worked chiefly with wood, but they also used clay and bronze. The most famous bronze statue in Japan, the Great Buddha at Kamakura, was cast during the 1200's.

Painting. Early Japanese painting dealt with Buddhist subjects, using compositions and techniques from China. From the late 1100's to the early 1300's, many Japanese artists painted long picture scrolls. These scrolls realistically portrayed historical tales, legends, and other stories in a series of pictures. Ink painting flourished in Japan from the early 1300's to the mid-1500's. Many of these paintings featured black brushstrokes on a white background. Landscape wood-block print During the mid-1500's and early 1600's, a decorative style of painting developed in Japan. Artists used bright colors and elaborate designs and added gold leaf to their paintings. From the 1600's to the late 1800's, artists created colorful wood-block prints. Printmaking is still popular in Japan. Bubble view: Japan: Zojoji Temple

Architecture. Many architectural monuments in Japan are Buddhist temples. These temples have large tile roofs with extending edges that curve gracefully upward. Traditional Shinto shrines are wooden frame structures noted for their graceful lines and sense of proportion. The simple style of Shinto architecture has influenced the design of many modern buildings in Japan. Japanese architecture emphasizes harmony between buildings and the natural beauty around them. Landscape gardening is a highly developed art in Japan.

Other arts. Japan ranks among the world's leading producers of motion pictures. Many Japanese films have earned international praise. The Japanese have long been famous for their ceramics, ivory carving, lacquerware, and silk weaving and embroidery. Other traditional arts include flower arranging, cloisonne (a type of decorative enameling), and origami (the art of folding paper into decorative objects .

Japanese painting

Japan's long cultural interaction with China affected the entire history of Japanese art. Painting began to flourish with the coming of Buddhism from China and Korea in the mid-500's. During the late 500's and the 600's, Buddhist monks from the Asian mainland brought both painting and artists with highly developed styles and techniques. The Chinese-inspired style was transformed to more Japanese tastes in Buddhist painting of the Heian period (794-1185), named for the capital of Heian-kyo (now Kyoto). Exquisite color and gold leaf enhanced the painting surface, creating an impression of restrained elegance. This style reflected the tastes of the aristocratic culture of the Heian period. With a rich tradition of forms and materials derived from China, Japanese artists began during the 900's to create works that expressed a truly national artistic experience. This distinctively Japanese-style painting was known as Yamato-e. The style used mainly nonreligious subjects, especially landscapes, and was also associated with the Heian court aristocracy. This national style is closely linked to classical Japanese literature and to its poetic response to the changing seasons and the beauty of nature. Illustration from the Tale of Genji Yamato-e hand scrolls also illustrated Japanese tales. These paintings reflect the elegance and refined taste of the Heian court. Painting of the time reached its peak in scrolls narrating The Tale of Genji, a novel by the court lady Murasaki Shikibu in the 1000's. The novel is perhaps the greatest work of Japanese fiction. Professional artists painted the scroll in court workshops. The artists sought to capture the emotion and mood of the novel rather than depict it literally. The paintings have a strong abstract design and a lyrical color sense. For other examples, see the following articles in the print version of World Book: Japan (History); World, History of the (The rise of Japanese civilization). Both religious and nonreligious narrative hand scrolls flourished in the late Heian period and the Kamakura period (1185-1333), named for its capital, Kamakura. These inventive visual narratives include action tales presented in uninterrupted pictorial sequences. A new style of painting arrived from Song and Yuan China in the late Kamakura period in the form of monochrome (single color) ink paintings. This style was brought to Japan by Chinese monks coming to work in Japanese Buddhist monasteries. In addition to ink painting, the monks introduced Song polychrome (multicolored) realistic portraits into Japan. Monochrome ink painting dominated Japanese painting well into the 1500's. Early Japanese monk-artists depicted the founders of their faith as well as animals and plants, such as the tiger and the orchid, which had symbolic meanings. The painters' colleagues and friends often inscribed poems in the Chinese style on the upper part of the paintings. Ink paintings became a truly Japanese form with the work of two monk-painters of the 1400'sóTensho Shubun and his pupil Sesshu. After traveling to Korea in 1423, Shubun introduced a more sweeping landscape style. He painted on screens and scrolls, using ink washes and fine black lines. Sesshu traveled to China in 1467, where he came into contact with classical Ming painting. On his return in 1469, he worked in a variety of styles and techniques, a diversity shared by many later Japanese painters. Sesshu created technically superb and powerful compositions in both ink and color. After Sesshu, ink painting emerged as a nonreligious style no longer associated with the Buddhist community. The Kano school, founded by Kano Masanobu in the late 1400's, became one of the most powerful artistic groups in Japanese art for centuries. Kano Motonobu, his son, was the school's principal teacher. Kano school artists painted traditional Chinese themes in a style of balanced composition and sharply defined line. Beginning in the 1500's, Kano paintings included Japanese subjects depicted in color. Motonobu's grandson Kano Eitoku created a new style in which he reduced forms to bold and simplified shapes that could be understood at a glance. In paintings such as Cypress, Eitoku created a new style. He departed from the previous Kano emphasis on delicate, single-colored paintings. Instead, he painted large works in a flat, bold-patterned style using gold leaf and color. He painted Cypress on the large surface of an eight-panel folding screen. His new monumental style glorified the power of his patrons, who were military warlords. An artistically rich period emerged during the Edo era (1603-1867), named for Edo (now Tokyo), the political center of Japan. This period is also called the Tokugawa, after the name of the ruling dynasty of shoguns (warrior rulers). Artists drew on various traditionsóJapanese, Chinese, and Western. This interaction of traditions gave artists access to a large artistic vocabulary. The Kano school continued to prosper as the official painters of the Tokugawa shoguns. The basic style of Edo painting came from the Kano school together with that of the Tosa school, which took its subjects and techniques from classical Yamato-e. The later Edo period also produced realistic landscapes painted in color. The building projects of the shoguns were important training grounds for painters and craftworkers and provided many opportunities for professional artists. Artists painted screens and other works that decorated the new buildings. The growth of castle towns enhanced patronage for regional painting styles. The aristocracy living in Kyoto was the official patron of Tosa school painting, but wealthy merchants also supported it. In the early 1700's, the growing middle class provided new patrons whose tastes ran from elegant and refined paintings to simple folkish art. This period is more familiar to the Western world through the multicolored woodblock prints called ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world). Ukiyo-e depicted the theater and other urban amusements. The Japanese referred to these passing scenes of city life as the "floating world."

Japanese Print

Japanese print is a type of Japanese illustration printed on paper from carved blocks of wood. The most famous Japanese prints were produced from the 1600's to the late 1800's. They are noted for their brilliant designs, bold colors, and technical quality. Most Japanese prints portray scenes from everyday life or from the theater and other popular forms of entertainment. The Japanese referred to these fleeting moments of life and passing amusements as the "floating world." They called the prints ukiyo-e, which means pictures of the floating world. Printing techniques Japanese prints were designed by highly trained artists and produced by skilled artisans. The early prints were made in black and white, though the artists sometimes added other colors by hand. The Japanese began to produce color prints in the mid-1700's. Black-and-white prints were made from one block of wood. First, the artist drew a design in ink on paper. The drawing was glued onto a block of hardwood, usually cherrywood. A carver cut away the portions of the wood between the lines of the drawing, which left the design itself raised. A printer then applied a water-based ink to the raised surfaces of the wood block. A piece of absorbent paper was placed on the inked block. The printer rubbed the back of the paper with a smooth-surfaced pad, and the ink soaked into the paper. The printer then pulled the paper from the block, and the design appeared in print. The block could be used repeatedly to make hundreds of prints. The production of color prints required additional blocks of wood, one for each color used. The carver cut each block so that the only areas left raised were those to be used for a certain color. The printer then applied various colored pastes to the blocks and placed the paper on each block in succession. History Japanese prints originated in the early 1600's as illustrations in popular books. Many people became interested in the pictures themselves, and so publishers began to produce the illustrations separately from books. The publishers commissioned the artists and hired the carvers and printers. Printmaking flourished in Japan during the Tokugawa period of the nation's history, which lasted from 1603 to 1867. During this period, a middle class arose and prospered in Japan's cities. The people of the middle class were the chief buyers of Japanese prints, which served as inexpensive substitutes for paintings. Japan had little contact with other countries during the Tokugawa period. Thus, Japanese print artists were not influenced by Western art styles. These artists followed Japanese art styles that had developed over centuries. The master print artists. One of the earliest known Japanese print artists was Moronobu, who lived during the 1600's. He created black-and-white prints of scenes from everyday life. A technique that enabled artists to create color prints was introduced in the mid-1700's. This technique involved carving wood blocks with guide marks so that printers could place paper in the same position on successive blocks. Harunobu, an artist of the mid-1700's, helped popularize color prints. His prints feature doll-like human figures and peaceful settings. They are noted for their beautiful colors and delicate lines. Utamaro and Sharaku were among the greatest print artists of the late 1700's. Utamaro was especially known for his portraits of beautiful women. Sharaku specialized in portraits of kabuki actors. Kabuki is a form of Japanese drama that developed in the 1600's. His portraits have the exaggerated features typical of caricatures. Landscape prints became popular in Japan during the 1800's. Hokusai and Hiroshige designed magnificent landscape prints. These artists created many series of prints of a particular scene in nature under a variety of weather conditions. The decline of printmaking. During the mid-1800's, the Tokugawa government became weakened by economic problems and social upheavals. The shogun (military ruler) resigned in 1867, and Emperor Mutsuhito officially became ruler in 1868. The new government began to modernize Japan and introduced many Western inventions and traditions into the country. The drive for modernization led to the decline of traditional Japanese printmaking. Many Japanese artists adopted Western-style painting, and they produced few high-quality prints. In the 1920's, interest in printmaking returned in Japan. Since then, Japanese woodcut artists have followed Western styles and techniques. Japanese prints had a great influence on many European and American artists of the late 1800's, including Edgar Degas of France and James A. M. Whistler of the United States. These artists sought alternatives to Western art styles and were fascinated by the unusual designs, bold colors, and pictorial conventions of Japanese prints.