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A fully developed school of painting did not arise in Japan until
the introduction of Buddhism from Korea in 552 This earliest historical
period of Japanese art is known as the Asuka period (592710),
after the region in which the capital was then located. The source
of this new, more highly developed art was the Korean kingdom
of Paekche, from which Buddhist missionaries and artisans came
to Japan bringing scriptures with sacred sutras, icons, and banners.
Soon Buddhist temples sprang up all over Japan, the most famous
of which is the Horyu-ji in Nara. Among the numerous artistic
treasures at this site is a miniature shrine known as the Tamamushi
shrine, which dates from the middle of the 7th century. On the
doors and the panels decorating the base are paintings depicting
scenes from Buddhist legend. Executed in color on lacquered wood,
they are works of considerable sophistication, no doubt reflecting
the artistic style of the mainland. In fact, the tall, graceful
figures of the Bodhisattvas on the doors with their beautiful
sense of linear design are close to the art of China of the Sui
dynasty (581618). Also outstanding are the Jataka scenes depicting
episodes from the previous incarnations of the Buddha.
With the Nara period (710794), Japanese painting came under the influence of the T'ang dynasty art of China and was stimulated to a period of great activity. While very few Asuka period paintings have survived, far more paintings dating from the Nara period are available. The most celebrated was a series of wall paintings in the Kondo at Horyu-ji that, after surviving 1,200 years, was unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1949. The subjects represented were Buddhist paradise scenes, Bodhisattvas, arhats (holy men), and apsaras (angels). The style of these paintings was basically very linear, although some shading was employed. The quality of the murals was uniformly high, indicating that by this time the Japanese had fully mastered this art.
In addition to the Horyu-ji murals, there are various scroll paintings, some of which are of the horizontal type, such as the famous Ingakyo Buddhist sutra with its charming illustrations that portray episodes from the Buddha's life. Others are vertical scrolls, such as the delicate picture of Kichijoten, the goddess of beauty and good fortune, who is portrayed as an elegant court lady. While all of these works were painted in bright colors, other pictorial designs were executed in ink only, in a free calligraphic style, a picture of a Bodhisattva on a cloud being particularly notable. While the bulk of Nara painting was religious in character, even at this time there was some secular work, such as the landscape or bird and flower motifs ornamenting objects of the decorative arts.
The Heian Period (7941185)
With the removal of the capital from Nara to Heiankyo (present-day
Kyoto), a completely new epoch began that lasted almost 400 years.
The painting of the early part of the Heian period is marked by
the influence of esoteric Buddhism, especially that of the Shingon
sect, which had been introduced from China in 806 by the great
Buddhist teacher Kukai. The icons associated with this sect show
new Buddhist deities of an often strange and mysterious kind.
Most striking are the Myo-o, or the five Great Kings, notably
Fudo, who is represented as a fierce and awe-inspiring guardian
of the Buddhist faith. The appearance of these deities is often
grotesque, with multiple heads and arms in keeping with the Hindu
conventions that had profoundly influenced this type of art. The
other kind of painting associated with Shingon was the Mandara
(Mandala), a magic diagram representing the Buddha world, with
the great cosmic Buddha Dainichi in the center and other deities
and sacred beings grouped around him.
The Buddhist painting of the later Heian period (8981185) is very different in spirit, reflecting the elegance and sophistication so characteristic of this period. The chief deity was now Amida, the Buddha of the Western Paradise, into whose realm the faithful hope to be reborn. The most famous of such representations is the large triptych at the Koyasan monastery that shows Amida surrounded by music-making Bodhisattvas. Perhaps the single most celebrated Buddhist painting of this period is the one showing the death of Sakyamuni. In it the ultimate peace of the Buddha who has entered the Nirvana is contrasted with the sorrow and lamentation of his followers. In both these works, the delicacy of the brushwork and the refinement of the coloring are characteristic of the painting of the later Heian period. Other types of religious paintings typical of the period are portraits of contemporary religious teachers.
The most important development in the art of the later Heian period was the rise of an indigenous school of painting called Yamato-e after an old name for Japan. While most Buddhist painting had continued under Chinese influence, this new school was typically Japanese both in its style and in the subjects portrayed. Most of the Yamato-e paintings were long narrative scrolls consisting of text and illustrations relating to Japanese history and literature. The most famous is the scroll containing the Tale of Genji, the great 11th century Japanese novel. Here the Yamato-e style is at its best, with its emphasis on narrative and its beautiful sense of abstract design.
While the Genji scroll was executed in bright colors, the other famous Heian period scrolls, the four scrolls called Animal Caricatures, traditionally ascribed to the abbot Toba-Sojo (Kakuyu), are rendered in black and white with a fine sense of calligraphic line. In these scrolls the corruption of the clergy of the Heian period is satirized in the manner of an Aesop's fable, with the various types of corrupt clergy depicted as frogs, rabbits, monkeys, and foxes. Two other celebrated Heian scrolls, whose style is midway between the abstract and colorful manner of the Genji and the linear black and white of the Animal Caricatures, are the Shigisan Engi scroll, depicting the legends about a pious monk on Mt. Shigi, and the Ban Dainagon scroll, which describes a political intrigue of Heian times.
The Kamakura Period (11851333)
Yamato-e painting continued to flourish during the Kamakura period.
In keeping with the new military spirit, however, the favorite
subjects now were scenes of warfare, particularly of the Mongol
invasion and the Heiji wars. The style of these 13th century scrolls
is more realistic than earlier works, with a wealth of dramatic
detail. Other famous Kamakura narrative paintings show the life
of contemporary religious teachers, such as the Ippen Shonin Eden,
on the life of the monk Ippen, and still others depict legends
and stories of famous Shinto shrines. They are not only fine works
of art but also fascinating social documents.
Along with Yamato-e, other types of painting flourished, notably landscapes and portraits. Relatively little of this art has survived, but among the extant works the Nachi Waterfall scroll and the Sensui Byobu landscape screen are the finest in the first category, and the portraits of Minamoto Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate, and of Daito Kokushi, a famous Zen master, are the most outstanding in the second. The portraits combine a realistic likeness with a penetrating portrayal of personality, and they are among the first real portraits in Japanese art. The Kamakura period was also outstanding for its Buddhist painting, which by and large followed the conventions of the Heian pictures. Particularly popular were the Amida Raigo paintings showing the golden form of the Amida Buddha appearing over the green mountains of Japan.
The Muromachi Period (13331573)
With the advent of the Ashikaga rule during the Muromachi period,
Kyoto once again became the capital, and new artistic tendencies
emerged. The dominant influences were Zen Buddhism and the Chinese
culture of the Sung period. In contrast to the colorful narrative
paintings of typically Japanese subjects that had marked the previous
centuries, the painting of the Muromachi period tended to be monochromes
representing Chinese subjects as well as the landscape of China.
This artistic tradition was centered in the great Zen monasteries, and many of the outstanding painters were Zen monks. The most illustrious was Sesshu (14201506), who actually visited China and was received there with great honors. Surviving from his work are several long hand-scrolls and a number of hanging scrolls depicting the picturesque landscapes of southern China. They show the mastery of his brushwork and the depth of his inspiration. Sesshu was merely one of a large group of Chinese-style painters active in Japan during the Muromachi period when this kind of ink painting was at its height. The earliest of these artists copied their Chinese models slavishly, but beginning with Shubun in the early 15th century, ink painting became more Japanese in character.
The artist usually credited with establishing a truly Japanese school of ink painting is Kano Motonobu (14761539), the founder of the Kano school. Next to landscapes, the favorite subjects of the Muromachi painters were themes taken from Zen Buddhism, such as representations of Daruma, the semilegendary patriarch of this sect, or the humorous pair Kanzan and Jittoku, who attained true happiness by realizing that the Buddha is not found in sutras or pious deeds but in the heart of the believer. Other Buddhist pictures show portraits of the great Zen masters in which the spiritual nature of these men is beautifully expressed.
The Momoyama Period (15731603)
The subsequent age, which is called the Momoyama period after
the name of Hideyoshi's great castle, is a very brief but important
epoch that produced a great deal of magnificent painting. Although
ink painting continued to be practiced and some of the Momoyama
masterpieces were executed in this manner, the outstanding art
works of this time were the gorgeous screen paintings that decorated
the palaces and castles of the military dictators. Large in scale
and combining bright colors with a lavish use of gold leaf, these
works are very imposing and give perfect expression to the spirit
of the period.
The founder of this school of decorative screen painting was Kano Eitoku (15431590), the grandson of Kano Motonobu, whose grandiose screens have a boldness and vigor not seen in previous Japanese painting. Among the other outstanding Momoyama painters, the best was Hasegawa Tohaku (15391610), who excelled both in Chinese-style ink pictures and in colorful decorative paintings. Of the former, his masterpiece is a pair of screens showing pine trees in mist, while his best works of the latter genre are the magnificent screens in the Chishaku-in in Kyoto depicting the various seasons. Another type that is characteristic of the Momoyama period is the Namban painting, which shows Westerners in their foreign clothes and with their colorful ships. Before all Western art was suppressed, there existed for a brief period a school of European-style painting, but this was little more than a curiosity and had no lasting effect.
The Edo Period (16031868)
The last age of traditional Japanese art was the Edo period, during
which the Tokugawa shoguns ruled in Edo (present-day Tokyo). A
period when Japan was both prosperous and peaceful, it was an
age of great cultural flowering, with many schools of painting
existing side by side. The official school, which enjoyed the
patronage of the shoguns, was the Kano school, with Kano Tanyu
(16071674) and his brother Kano Naonobu (16071650) as its most
illustrious representatives. Working largely in monochrome in
a style based on Chinese Sung dynasty and Japanese Muromachi period
prototypes, they produced competent traditional ink paintings
at their best but added little to the artistic traditions of Japan.
Far more original and more typically Japanese were the artists of the Sotatsu-Korin school, named after its two most famous members, Tawaraya Sotatsu (c. 15761643) and Ogata Korin (16581716). These masters, who based their style on the Yamato-e tradition and on the screen painting of the Momoyama period, produced genuinely indigenous work that was marked by bold flat areas of color and a fine sense of abstract design. Their subjects were Japanese motifs, such as the Tale of Genji and the scenery at Matsushima, one of the three beauty spots of Japan (Nihon Sankei), in contrast to the Chinese landscapes and stories favored by the Kano painters.
Two other prominent schools of Edo period painting were the realistic Okyo school and the Bunjinga, or Literati, painting, both of which reflected Chinese influences of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties. The leading member of the first school was Maruyama Okyo (17331795), whose work combined a striking realism, due in part to the influence of Dutch engravings, with the decorative elements typical of Japan. Appealing both to the rich merchants of Osaka and the rising middle class, Okyo's art exerted a profound influence on all later Japanese painting. He had many followers, among them Goshun (17521811), who founded the Shijo school, and Mori Sosen (17491821), who is well known for his pictures of monkeys. The paintings of the Bunjinga school, on the other hand, were produced by gentlemen painters who worked for the cultured leisure class that looked down upon professional artists and who were inspired by the Southern School of Chinese painting. Among the numerous artists belonging to this school, the most famous is Ike-no-Taiga (17231776), whose paintings are executed in a free, rather abstract manner. Equally fine is Urakami Gyokudo (17451820), one of the most original and expressive of all Japanese artists. Although ultimately based on Chinese painting of the Eccentric school, Gyokudo's work is very individual in its brushwork and use of color. This high degree of individualism is also seen in the work of Zen painter Hakuin (16851768), who is a very profound artist of striking originality.
Finally, there is a school of genre painting called Ukiyo-e, which represented scenes from the life of the times. Its beginnings can be traced back to late Muromachi and Momoyama, but it was only in the Edo period that it became prominent. Although many of the artists who worked in this manner cannot be identified because they did not sign their works, the best of them have considerable artistic merit, and their paintings are always fascinating for the colorful picture they give of contemporary life.
The Modern Age
With the Meiji restoration of 1868, a completely new chapter in
the history of Japanese art began. While Japan during the Edo
period had been virtually cut off from contact with the outside
world, it was now open to Western influence, with European artists
coming to Japan as teachers and Japanese artists studying in Europe.
Meiji painters fall into two main groups: those who produced Western-style oil paintings, with subjects such as nudes and still lifes, and those who used traditional Japanese techniques and preferred subjects taken from Japanese life and legend. During the Meiji period (18681912), the outstanding Western-style painters were the realist Kuroda Kijoteru (18661924) and the impressionist Fujishima Takeji (18671943). Of the Japanese-style painters, the leading artists were the Nanga school painter Tomioka Tessai (18361924), 1924), Kano Hogai (18281888), the last exponent of the Kano school, and Takeuchi Seiho (18641942) who continued the realistic style of Okyo. In the Taisho period (19121926) and even more the Showa period, which began in 1926, this division became even more pronounced with artists such as Yasui Sotaro (18881955) and Umehara Ryuzaburo (born 1888), working in the postimpressionist style, while Yokoyama Taikan (18681958) and Maeda Seison (born 1885) continued the Japanese tradition.
At first, the Japanese-style painters were more numerous, but as years went by, the Western-style artists became more and more important. This tendency was especially marked in the period following World War II, when the focal center of art for the Japanese painters shifted from Paris to New York, and the best-known Japanese abstract painter, Okada Kenzo (19021982), actually moved to New York City. Virtually all the early postwar American art movements, including abstract expressionism, happenings, pop, and op, had their Japanese equivalents, and in the late 20th century much Japanese painting became a local variation of international modern art.
By the early 1980's Tokyo had emerged as a major center for the international art market. Hundreds of galleries opened, and at the height of the "bubble economy" Japanese collectors spent vast sums on art, much of it imported from Europe and North America. Pure speculation became rampant, driving prices upward worldwide, and the entire international market eventually overheated at the end of the decade. The Japanese collapse was seen by many as a major cause of the prolonged slump in the art market in Europe and North America in the 1990's.
Japanese Calligraphy
In both the Chinese and Japanese traditions, calligraphy is closely connected with painting, and it has often been said that to become a great painter one must first excel as a calligrapher. Often the picture and the accompanying inscription are seen as one artistic whole, as in the scrolls where Sotatsu painted the pictures and Koetsu provided the calligraphy. For the Japanese, beautiful writing is a distinct and significant art form that enjoys great popularity and to which even separate exhibitions are devoted. An outstanding calligrapher is considered the peer of a famous painter and is more highly esteemed than any sculptor or architect.
The script used by the Japanese was introduced from China during the early 5th century. It consists of countless characters whose skillful and artistic rendering is a challenge to the writer. Several different styles can be distinguished. The most important are Kaisho, a formal, conventional writing used for official documents and Buddhist texts; Sosho, a free, cursive style that is considered the most artistic and is favored for poetry and literary writing; and Gyosho, which falls somewhere between the other two styles and is preferred for compositions such as letters and diaries. There is also a very formal kind of writing called Tensho, which is based on archaic Chinese and is used for seals. During the early Heian period, a Japanese-style syllabic script was developed. This is called Kana and is usually employed in conjunction with the Chinese type of writing, which is called Kanji.
Connoisseurs of Japanese calligraphy usually regard the Nara period as the most outstanding for its highly formal calligraphy, while the Heian period is famous for its graceful, cursive script. Under the impact of Zen, a strong, expressive script showing marked originality and vigor was developed in the Muromachi period, while the modern age saw the emergence of a school of an abstract style called Zen-ei, or avant-garde calligraphy.
Hugo Munsterberg
New York State University College at New Paltz
Bibliography
Elisseeff, Vadime, and Elisseeff, Danielle, The Art of Japan
(Abrams 1985).
Halbreich, K., and others, Against Nature: Japanese Art in the
Eighties (MIT List Visual Arts Center 1989).
Munsterberg, Hugo, The Art of Modern Japan: From the Meiji Restoration
to the Meiji Centennial, 18681968 (Hacker 1978).
Shimizu, Yoshiaki, and Rosenfield, John M., Masters of Japanese
Calligraphy, 8th19th Century (Beil 1984).
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