JAPANESE ART AND CULTURE

Structures
Empress Suiko, the first Japanese Empress,
one of the first Buddhist monarchs in Japan,
recognized Buddhism and ordered the
building of Buddhist Temples.
Prince Shotoku, hired priests, architects,
wood-carvers, and other skilled artists to
carry out the order. It was a vast importation
of culture which started the art in Japan. The
structure resembles the Chinese structures.
Houses were of wood and hardly rise beyond
a story. Aristocrats spread their mansions
over their land instead of raising them high.
Sculptures
Japanese Sculptures use wood and metal
rather stone. In the year 747, an epidemic
small pox spread throughout Japan. The
emperor ordered to cast a gigantic Buddha to
propitiate the gods. Building this colossi
required a huge amount of materials such as
bronze, gold mercury, wax and charcoal. It
was then named the Kamakura Daibutsu.
Pottery
Japanese pottery is just an industry of
molding crude materials for common use, it
became an art upon the entrance of tea in
the 13th century.
One Japanese potter, Kato Shirozemon,
perilously made his way to China to study
ceramics, after six years he returned and
made a factory in Seto, which produces the
most known in Japanese pottery, the Setomono or Seto-ware.
Prints
One of the most widely known and influential
in the west. It came to Japan as the language
of
Buddhism
then became an illustration of books and the
life
of
people. Old ways and subjects lost the
interest of men; they are more interested in

Buddhist saints. Since painting requires time,

they can only produce one at a time; new
artists engraved their pictures into the wood
and made less expensive prints to meet the
demands of the purchasers. And in 1764,
Harunobu made the first polychrome prints of
Hokusai and Hiroshige paintings which proves
to be suggestive and stimulating to culture,
and it made the Europeans crave for this
prints.

Paintings
Painting in Japan were once made with the
same brush used for writing, other materials
used are simple ink or watercolor, and an
absorbent paper or silk.
In their painting, the artist conveys a feeling,
as in a poem, the painter was like a poet, if
he were true to his own feeling, his painting
will be realistic.
Chinese influence on various Japanese artists
continued as they are being patronized by
some of the feudal lords. Each baronial court
had its own official painter commissioned to
train young artists.
The Tea Ceremony (Cha-no-yu)
Tea - For the aristocracy it is more sacred
than sake, it was a remedy for the
tastelessness of boiled water. In 805, it was
introduced by China to Japan and became a
royal drink.
Tea Ceremony - Harmony, Respect, Purity
and Tranquility are the four governing
principles of the Cha-no-yu. It is a way to
appreciate the spirit of naturally harmonious
blending of Heaven and Earth.
The spirit of Cha-no-yu is for the cleansing of
the six senses from contamination.