2.4.
Japanese Art
J apan has had a rich and varied history with many visitors to
the island nation. As such it is hard to characterize thousands
of years of a myriad of inspirations into one particular style.
However, the Japanese did, and have assimilated all of the
various elements of their past into unique forms of art that are
uniquely their own. The art movement across Japan created a
lot of unique creative forms of art. Japanese art is comprised
of silk and paper calligraphy and paintings, cut or folded paper arts, pottery, sculpture, embroidery, and many other forms.
Painting is the most prolific art as until modern times, most Japanese were taught to write with brushes, not pens, and the
innate nature of such a practice gave them a great skill with the brush as an extension of them rather than merely a tool.
Art History: Japanese Art Origins and Historical Importance:
Japanese Art of Wabi-sabi – Higashiyama Culture
Japanese art is seen as early as its first settler, the Jomon
people who arrived around 11000 BC and were nomadic
hunters that eventually built highly populated cities. They
were known for clay vessels decorated with silk cords,
dogu (clay figurines), and crystal jewels.
The Jomon were followed by the Yayoi people around 350
BC. This culture moved to Japan from Tokyo and brought
with them copper weapons, bronze bells, pottery wheels,
and kilns.
“I encourage all you superior seekers in the secret depths
to devote yourselves to penetrating and clarifying the self,
as earnestly as you would put out a fire on the top of your
head.” – Hakuin Ekaku
The Kofun period from 250-552 AD was a continuation of
the Yayoi culture. Named for kofun megalithic tombs, this
period is characterized by clay sculptures called haniwa
that decorated tombs, bronze mirrors, and political
symbols.
These three periods defined the prehistoric eras of
Japanese art. Later periods are within the recorded history
of Japan and flourished under governmental, societal,
cultural, and religious influence.
Later centuries drew visitors to Japan, mainly the Chinese
and these visitors inspired both writing and the visual arts.
The Chinese influenced the pictographic characters of the Japanese alphabet, with symbolism being an important element.
Symbols included various meanings associated with natural subjects such as plants and animals.
While some techniques were learned from the Chinese in regard to painting, the Japanese style is more natural, and sometimes
more abstract. Chinese artists were more structured and followed stricter guidelines, whereas the Japanese had a love of
gaiety and spontaneous composition. The Chinese favored expansive vistas and landscapes, but the Japanese focused on
closer subjects such as portraits, household scenes, individual plants and parts of plants, and single animals. Japanese painting
was more fluid and less decorative than Chinese art and gave more attention to the essence of a single subject.
“In Japanese art, space assumed a dominant role and its position was strengthened by Zen concepts.” – Stephen Gardiner
Some Japanese painting and illustration take on a mystical quality not seen in other cultures outside of mythological stories.
One example is an illustrated journal, Murasaki Shikibu’s diary. One illustration shows a scene in which the diarist is held
captive while the imperial garden outside is shown with the moon shining on the water and mossy bank of a small stream.
Japanese gardening is not quite something that can be put into a museum, but its importance in Japanese art is paramount.
Nowhere else in the world is a garden so masterfully designed by the rules of design and composition and these beautiful
works of art are represented in painting, photography, sculpture, and even in the living bonsai miniatures of themselves.
Japan also being an island of fishermen, the artists of the nation were also
inspired by the sea. Paintings and textiles depicting crashing and curving
ocean waves, intricately detailed fish, and the light of the sun and moon on
the water were popular subjects.
The Japanese reverence for the natural world lends itself to the symbolism of
natural elements. This reverence and the way in which it was executed over
various art forms was of great help to the foundation of the Art Nouveau
movement.
“If you study Japanese art you see a man who is undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent, who spends his time how? In
studying the distance between the earth and the moon? No. In studying the policy of Bismarck? No. He studies a single blade
of grass. But this blade of grass leads him to draw every plant and then the seasons, the wide aspects of the countryside, then
animals, then the human figure. So he passes his life, and life is too short to do the whole.” – Vincent Van Gogh
Other elements of Japanese culture that are not necessarily visual art contributed to the images created, such as the art of the
beauty of the Geisha, simplistic yet harmonious interior design of homes and temples, and fashions such as the kimono,
which was a textile art of great beauty.
The art of Japanese painting is full of mesmerizing Asian charm when you look at it from a purely decorative view. But it is
also a subject that can be a bit confusing for novices when you want to learn more about it. Different painting schools and
styles, a variety of different media, the deep roots in Zen Buddhism and the use of specific terms from the Japanese language
make this art form not always easily accessible for Westerners.
To understand Japanese painting, one should know that it has always been torn between three mainstreams movements -
Chinese, Japanese and Western.
History of Japanese Painting
As nearly all forms of art, early painting had been under the influence of the Chinese culture. By and by, new and specifically
Japanese styles were developed and painting schools were established. Each school practiced their own style. But the Chinese
influence remained strong until the beginning of the Edo period (1603-1867). There is a general term to describe painting in
Japanese style - yamato-e.
After the opening of Japan to the West under the Meiji period (1868-1912), the early years were marked by an exaggerated
embracing of Western art. The newly founded universities established departments for Western art, called Western academic
artists into the country as teachers and sent out students to study art in Europe - mainly in France and Italy.
Hand in hand with a rising nationalism, the pendulum soon went back into the other direction. The public opinion began to
recognize the richness of the old tradition and even condemned Western art.
The twentieth century was marked by cooperation. Art colleges offer departments for both Japanese and Western painting
styles.
Painting Schools and Styles
• Suibokuga is the term for painting in black ink. It was adopted from China and strongly influenced by Zen
Buddhism. During the 15th century ink painting gained a more Japanese style of its own.
• Kano Masanobu (1453-1490) and his son Kano Motonobu (1476-1559) established the Kano painting school. It
began as a protest against the Chinese ink painting technique in black. The Kano school used bright colors and
introduced daring compositions with large flat areas that later should dominate the ukiyo-e designs. The Kano school
split into several branches over the time, but remained dominant during the Edo period. Many ukiyo-e artists were
trained as Kano painters.
• Tosa-ha was a painting school specialized on small miniature formats in book illustrations. The founder was Tosa
Yukihiro in the 14th century. The Tosa school became something like the official art school of the imperial court in
Kyoto. The imperial court was a secluded world of its own, politically powerless, but well equipped with funds by
the governing shoguns to dedicate themselves to fine arts.
• The nanga painting style was strong at the beginning of the 19th century during the bunka and bunsai era. The
advocates of this style painted idealized landscapes and natural subjects like birds and flowers for a cultural elite.
The style was rather Chinese.
• The shijo school was a split in the 18th century from the official Kano school. The shijo style is characterized by
subjects taken from people's everyday life. A kind of realism with sometimes satirical elements.
Media
Japanese painters used a wide variety of media over the centuries. The only one you will not find until the late nineteenth
century, is the Western media of the framed canvas. The mainstream media used by traditional Japanese painters were:
1. Horizontal scrolls called emakimono. The word means literally translated "image (e) of a rolled (maki) thing
(mono)". Emakimono were created by pasting single sheets together to form a long roll. The images were viewed from
right to left. Emakimono are among the oldest forms of paintings. Instead of emakimono you can find the
words makimono or emaki. It means the same.
2. Vertical scrolls called kakemono. It is the "thing" that you hang on a wall. A kakemono is mounted on a roller on both
ends. The roller on top has a string attached so that you can hang the scroll vertically. The roller on bottom is meant to
straighten the image out by its weight. Vertical scrolls became popular during the Edo period. It comes closest to the
Western framed canvas painting and was the ideal form of decorating a wall for the small Japanese houses.
3. Another painting media were folding screens, called byobu in Japanese. They had come from China to Japan in the 7th
century and were used as room separators, mostly with 4 or 6 panels. Due to their sizes, the use was limited to temples
and palaces. Screens became a major medium for lush and elaborate paintings. With the rise of the merchant class, the
demand for screens moved to the rich towns people during the Edo period. The subjects on screens were similar to those
on ukiyo-e (Japanese prints).
4. Sliding doors, called fusuma were another media for Japanese painting. During the Muromachi (1333-1573) and
Momoyama period (1573-1603) powerful feudal lords built castles and commissioned painters to decorate interior walls
with paintings. The Japanese term is shoheiga.
5. Also fans - uchiwa - were a popular medium to paint on.
Subjects
Japanese paintings may evoke an association with landscapes and
natural scenes drawn with a few genial brush strokes. The impression
may come from the majority of the scroll paintings that are to be found
in galleries and museums. But it is only a part of the story.
Japanese Art Key Highlights
• One of the earliest arts of the Japanese was ceramics and this art form in its Japanese incarnation is known as some of
the finest worldwide.
• During the Edo period, Ukiyo-e became popular. This woodblock printing style created colorful illustrative prints for
private and public use, including schoolbooks. It had a major influence on the Western artists of the 19th century.
• Painting panels on sliding doors was a technique used during the Momoyama period. The Kano school used great
landscapes on these doors. Subjects included lions, animals, trees, vines, and plants. The Samurai were fond of this
innovation in painting.
Does Japanese Art Differ From Other Eastern Cultures?
In short, yes. Although there was much initial influence from the Chinese Song Dynasty, the early Japanese artists soon
adapted the styles and techniques to better suit their own aesthetic, and it wasn’t long before art began to rise out of the region
that bore a distinctly Japanese character. After a period of isolation from the rest of the world due to war, the Japanese art
style would eventually leave the borders of Japan and go on to influence the rest of the world, such as Europe.
What Is Japan’s Most Famous Painting?
The Great Wave off Kanagawa is undoubtedly the most well-known Japanese painting in the world. It was published around
1892 as the first print of the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, created by the Japanese master Katsushika Hokusai.
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