Painting Traditional-style Japanese paintings are executed by brush on paper and silk with such pigments as verdigris (green copper rust), cinnabar, and sumi ink diluted with liquid glue. Unlike Western oil painting in which colors can be mixed and applied in thick layers, nihon-gais limited in its colors and their application. Nihon-ga can be broadly divided into mono- and poly-chrome works. Monochrome paintings include simple line sketches and suiboku-ga washes with subtle differentiations of tone. Both are techniques introduced from Chine, and are represented, respectively, by the late Heian-period Choujuu Giga (Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans) and the purely Japanese-style of Sesshuu, a Muromachi-period painter. The earliest polychrome paintings in Japan were of Buddhist subjects, and it was not until the Heian period that a truly Japanese style of polychrome painting known as yamato-e is distinguished by its depicting the changing seasons and people involved in various activities. E-makimono Many of the best-known yamato-e are e-makimono, horizontal scrolls which first appeared in the late Heian period and early Kamakura period. They consist of long scrolls with alternating text and pictures telling a story in chronological order. The Genji Monogatari E-maki (Tale of Genji Scrolls) are among the most famous e-makimono. Shouhei-ga From the end of the Muromachi period well into the Azuchi-Momoyama period, the Kanou School, which combined Chinese and yamato-e styles, supplied the primary decorative painting for temples and castles. known as shouhei-ga, this decorative painting was executed on sliding doors and folding screens. Subjects included birds and flowers and people painted in a sumptuous style. Major artists of the period include kanou Eitoku and hasegawa Touhaku. Later, in the early Edo period, such artists as Tawaraya Soutatsu and Ogata Kourin this kind of decorative art work with freedom and vitality. Western-style Painting At the end of the Edo period, realistic Western-style painting was introduced by the Dutch. Following the Meiji Restoration, Japanese artists such as Kuroda Seiki and Asai Chuu traveled to France and were influenced by the impressionist painters. The new art concepts these men brought back to Japan were avidly pursued by such people as Fujishima Takeji, Aoki Shigeru, and Sakamoto Hanjirou. Influenced by Western techniques, artists such as Hishida Shunsou and Yokoyama Taikan created modern nihon-ga under the patronage of Okakura Tenshin.Except for those working in woodblock printing and abstract painting, few Japanese artists are active internationally today, in part because of the uniquely Japanese sense of the work. |
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Ukiyo-e This term is used to describe the pictures, many of them color prints, depicting Edo-period scenes and customs. The name comes from the fact that many showed the ukiyo (floating world) of the theater and pleasure quarters. The first such pictures appeared in the 1670s when hishikawa Moronobu discovered a way to make monochromic woodblock prints. Harunobu, Utamaro, and Sharaku Ukiyo-e became very popular in the mid-18th century with the flowering of kabuki and the spread of publishing. As printing technology evolved, it became possible to print full-color art, and Suzuki Harunobu created the full-color nishiki-e prints. Harunobu drew pictures of beautiful women in full color and with great background detail. Yet it was for Kitagawa Utamaro to bring these pictures of beautiful women to their full glory. Utamaro was particularly skilled at the oo-kubi-e showing beautiful women from the waist up, and these superb portraits often used backgrounds sparkling with mica. In contrast to Utamaro's sensual pictures of beauties. Toushuusai Sharaku turned his skills to powerfully depicting the expressive character of the kabuki theater. In a meteoric career, he produced about 150 different pictures from the leading kabuki plays in Edo between May 1794 and February 1795, but little is known about his person. Hokusai and Hiroshige Going into the 19th century, there were vast numbers of inferior sprints of beautiful women and kabuki actors, and the genre seemed beset with imitation and exaggeration until Katsushika Hokusai and Andou Hiroshige breathed new life into it by turning their talents to the virgin field of landscapes. Hokusai is thought to have started doing landscapes under the influence of Western copper plates. He later became famous for his 36 Views of Mt Fuji with their dynamic compositions and gorgeous colors, and he followed this success up with other series of pictures of famous tourist sites. Hokusai lived to be 90 and has left behind many woodblock prints and even paintings. hiroshige's 53 Stations on the Toukaidou won him a place as Hokusai's main rival for their rich depiction of Japanese scenery and the sights of travelers, and he also went on to do other series of other famous spots, including 69 Stations on the Kiso Kaidou. Many ukiyo-e pictures were taken to Europe in the late 19th century, where their sweeping composition and striking colors, plus the fact that they did not use shadows, attracted the interest of Degas, Manet, van Gogh, and other impressionists. A major influence on modern art, ukiyo-e are more appreciated in the West than in Japan. |
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Ceramics EArthenware was made in Japan some 10,000 years ago. Despite the centuries of earthenware production, glazed pottery and porcelain were not made until much later, partly because it was possible to meet daily needs with advanced woodworking techniques and lacquer ware. Pottery The first Japanese glazed pottery was a white, green, and brown ware imitation of Tang three-colored ware. Called Nara three-colored ware, this is also known as Shousouin three-color ware because many representative pieces are in the Shousouin depository. Until the next glazed ware appeared nearly 500 years later, a hard, gray ware known as Sue was made nationwide. Sue disappeared in the late 12th century. True mass production of glazed ware began in the Kamakura period when a potter named Toushirou used Chinese techniques to make urns, pitchers, incense burners, and Buddhist liturgical instruments in the Seto district. By the Muromachi perio, potting had spread beyond Seto to kilns in the Shigaraki, Tokoname, Tanba, Bizen, and Echizen regions. Today these are known as the Six Ancient Kilns. Potting took on new sophistication with the unification of the country under Toyotomi Hideyosi and the spread of the tea ceremony. Seto potters moved to new clay deposits at Mino where they produced Shino, Ki-Seto, Oribe, and other distinctly Japanese tea implements Tea utensils were also made in Shigaraki, Iga, Bizen, and Kyouto (Kyoto). Although their efforts to invade Korea ended in failure, Hideyoshi's generals brought back many skilled prisoners, among them potters who breathed new life into Japanese ceramic manufacture, building new and better kilns and producing high-quality wares. Porcelain It is said one of these Korean potters, Ri Sampei, discovered porcelain clay in Arita and succeeded in firing porcelain ware in 1616. This was the first Japanese porcelain production. Another Arita potter, Sakaida Kakiemon, painted his porcelains with brilliant colors, and soon Arita and Kakiemon porcelains were famous nationwide. Arita ware was exported by Dutch traders in the Edo period, becoming known in Europe as Imari ware because it was shipped out of Imari port. Augustus II of Saxony collected Imari ware and commissioned the experts at his Messen kiln near Dresden to study it and find out how it was made. The result was the first true porcelain produced in Europe. Pottery and pocelain production spread throughout Japan in the 18th and 19th centuries, and ceramics were in common daily use by the late Edo period. Using porcelain production technology from the Arita kilns, the Seto kilns turned out such a volume of dishes and utensils of all kinds that the term seto-mono is today synonymous with ceramics. @ @ |
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Lacquer ware Lacquer ware is made of wood, bamboo, cloth, or other material coated with layers of lacquer extracted from the lacquer tree. Lacquer ware was being produced in China, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia more than two millennia ago. In Japan, lacquer-making was developed to such a degree of sophistication that the term japan has become the generic term for lacquer ware just as china is used for porcelain ware. By the time Yuan-period China (1271-1368) was exporting sophisticated porcelains and celadons, and Japan was using lacquer for furniture, weapons, dishes, and other daily utensils and producing exquisite works of lacquer art. In the 15th and 16th centuries japan was exported to Europe by Portuguese and Dutch traders. History Indigenous to China and Tibet, the lacquer tree has been widely cultivated throughout Aisa. Japanese lacquer ware dating back more than 2,000 years to the Joumon period has been discovered in archaeological digs, but opinion is divided on whether lacquer-making techniques were introduced from China or developed spontaneously in Japan. In either case, rapid advances in lacquer-making technology were made when active trading with the continent was initiated in the 6th century and superior technology was introduced from China. It is from about this time that lacquer ware acquired an aesthetic as well as a practical value. Near the end of the Edo perio utilitarian lacquer ware was widely replaced by ceramic ware. From the Meiji period lacquer ware was further supplanted by metal ware and artificial varnishes. Today the best Japanese lacquer were (dishes and eating utensils) is preserved primarily as an art form. Well-known types of contemporary lacquer ware include Wajima, Aizu, and Shunkei ware. Characteristics Lacquer has been used since ancient times as an adhesive and as a varnish to protect wooden, bamboo, and cloth objects. It has also benn mixed with color pigments for decorative effect. Early examples are to be found in the use as an adhesive and protective varnish for bows and sword hilts. It was later applied as a protective coating to wooden utensils, this use gradually developing into an elaborate decorative technique for many other objects such as furniture. Dried lacquer is extremely strong and durable, and it was used in the Nara period to make dry-lacquer sculptures. The basic form, shaped with hemp fabric covering a wooden core, was coated with repeated layers of lacquer and cloth. Well-preserved specimens of this type of Buddhist sculpture over 1,200 years old include the Hachibushuu (Eight Supernatural Guardians of the Buddha) and the Juudai Deshi (Ten Great Disciples of Buddha), both National Treasures at Koufukuji in Nara. @ @ @ |
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Japanese Dolls Japanese history contains many references to dolls. One ancient example is the haniwa of the Kofun period. Dolls have even been used as an artistic medium, as in the bunraku puppet theater. In the Heian period, some dolls were used as children' toys and others as talismans to dispel demons or work voodoo. Festival Dolls Dolls are also features in traditional Japanese festive events. One of these is the Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival) on March 3 when girls place hina dolls on step-like tiers in the family living room, offer prayers for good fortune, and drink a sweet sake-based drink called shiro-zake. Boys have their turn on May 5, when they ornament their homes with warrior dolls inspiring them to be strong and brave. On both of these days the dolls are put away the following day until next year. Some of these traditional dolls are heirlooms handed down for several centuries. Even though these festivals have become highly ritualized and commercialized, the dolls continue to represent parents' hopes for their children. Regional Dolls Dolls are an important part of the toy-craft traditiions associated with various regions of Japan. The most popular regional dolls today are the hakata and kokeshi dolls. Hakata dolls, named after the historic area in Fukuoka, yuushuu, where they were produced, are painted figures made of bisque-fired clay. Painted realistically and in fine detail, hakata doll motifs range from children to old people kabuki actors, and sumou (sumo) wrestlers, and they are collected as ornaments. Kokeshi dolls, products of the northeastern Honshuu region, are made of wood and include a cylindrical torso decorated with multicolor floral and linear patterns and a spherical head on which a young child's features are painted. Kokeshi shapes and patterns vary depanding on exactly where they come from, and each of the eight to then different types of kokeshi is distinctive to its place of origin. Although some people have theorized that the name kokeshi may have originally symbolized infanticide, kokeshi dolls are today manufactured and sold merely as decorative ornaments. Collector's Items Other dolls popular with collectors include kimekomi, ssaga, and gosho dolls. Kimekomi dolls are carved from wood and clothed with real fabric wedged into narrow grooves. Saga dolls are wooden figures filt in gold or painted. Gosho dolls, usually chubby baby boys with white skin and oversized heads, were favored by Edo-period court nobled in Kyouto (Kyouto). Today, the traditional-doll industry is still alive and flourishing alongside manufacturers of new doll designs. @ |