JAPANESE

HISTORYCreated by:

Carille Isabella Garcia Mar

INTRODUCTION

Culture with long histories—likemany in Asia—can be difficult tograsp. This guide to Japan’shistorical periods describes itsmajor eras in terms of artisticproduction and significantpolitical developments.

JOMON PERIOD CA. 11,000 – 300 B.C.

The gradual melting of Ice Age glaciers caused the sea level to rise and isolate Japan from the Asian mainlang around 11,000 B.C. Early Neolotic inhabitants were nomadic hunters and gatherers, but they slowly began to settle in semi-permanent villages.

The period takes its names from the rope (jo) patterns (mon) found on earthenware vessels. Beginning in the mid-Jomon Period, potters created highly sculptural deep pots, as well as clay figurines.

JOMON PERIOD

Deep Jar

YAYOI PERIOD CA. 300 B.C. – 300 A.D.

Powerful chieftains ruled over an increasingly stratified society. Wet-rice Cultivation, introduced by immigrants from the continent, encourged the establishment of permanent villages.

Potters produce elegan, wheel-turned pottery with smooth, painted or burnished surfaces.

Bronze technology from Korea led to the production of swords, spearheads, and dotaku bells , which were prized as symbols of prestige, rather than musical instruments.

YAYOI PERIOD

Yayoi Weapons

KOFUN PERIOD 300 – 552

A ruling aristocracy with close ties to Korea emerges during this period.

Kofun, literally ‘old tomb’ refers to tumuli, or moulded graves, built for the imperial family and other high-ranking aristocrats.

These tombs were furnished with ceramic cups, bowls, iron armaments, bronze mirrors, and stone jewelry.

Burial mounds were adorned with clay sculptures (haniwa) in the form of warriors, shamans, animals and birds.

Made of simplified geometric forms with naively applied embellishments, haniwa possess a haunting immediacy and charm.

KOFUN PERIOD

Haniwa Horse

ASUKA PERIOD 552-645

Korean envoys introduced Buddhism to Japan in 552.

Empress Suiko and the prince-regent Shotoku championed the new religion. In less than 100 years it became firmly established, sharing the Japanese spiriual psyche with the indigenous belief system known as Shinto, or Way of the Gods

Monks and craft mens from Korea and China were invited to immigrate to provide the objects of worship necessary for the new religion.

Buddhist establishments became major art patrons, and from the 7th through 11th centuries, there are few surviving works of art that are not Buddhist in inspiration. Painting and sculpture of the Asuka Period are patterned largely on Korean and Chinese prototypes.

ASUKA PERIOD

The Standing Kannon

SHINTO The indigenous religion of Japan,

Shinto is a form of nature-worship dating back to an unrecorded antiquity.

Originally nameless, the Japanese later called this faith “Shinto”, or Way of the Gods, in order to distinguish it from imported Chinese thought systems such as Buddhism.

In Shintoism, the Japanese worshiped the myriad nature spirits believed to inhabit natural phenomena such as rocks, waterfalls, trees and mountains.

Later, under the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism, they also came to revere the spirits of their ancestors.

Called kami, these Shinto deities were not originally represented anthropomorphically.

Instead, the area where they were believed to be present was demarcated.

Later, with the adoption of the highly developed Buddhist artistic tradition prompted Japanese artists to create Shinto paintings and sculpture.

SHINTO

PERIOD

The Uho-doji(Divine rainmaking boy)

NARA PERIOD 645-794

During the Nara Period the power and influence of Buddhism grew.

The Japanese consructed many temples to accommodate the growing numbers of worshippers and clergy.

Much of this activity was due to the efforts of Emperor Shomu (r. 729-749), a great patron of Buddhism.

Buddhist deities in bronze, wood, clay, and lacquer were commissioned to fill temples.

It was during this period that the colossal bronze Buddha (Daibutsu) of Todai-ji temple was constructed to ensue the prosperity and protection of the entire nation. Increased contact with China caused paintings and sculpture to ba modelled closely on the style of the comtemporary T’ang dynsty.

NARA PERIOD

Architecture during the Nara Period

HEIAN PERIOD 794-1185

With the transferal of the capital from Nara to Heian-kyo (modern Kyoto) in 794, a new era began.

Priests Kukai and Saicho introdced new forms of Buddhism from the mainland, including esoteric or Tantric practices.

These new forms of Buddhism brought a more complex pantheon of deities, providing painters painters and sculptures with freah sources of inspiration.

By the year 1000, Esoteric Buddhism was being eclipsed by the popularity of the worship of Amida Buddha.

The concept of Amida’s heavenly ‘Pure Land’ greatly influenced the arts, giving rise to elegant architectural forms and paintings and sculpture thar reflected the idyllic beauty of Amida’s paradise.

Under the aristocratic Fujiwara regents, the court entered its ‘golden age’.

Members of this elite society developed native styles of calligraphy and painting that became enduring hallmarks of Japanese artistic expression.

HEIAN PERIOD

Amida Buddha

KAMAKURA PERIOD

1185-1333

In 1185, Minamoto no Yorimoto proclaimed himself the Shogun (military dictator) of the country and moved the seat of government to Kamakura, a small village in Eastern Japan that gives its ame to this historical period.

The new government soon set about rebuilding many temples in in Nara that had been desroyed during military campaigns.

Sculptors were inspired by the works of the late Nara period, but created a new style with greater emphasis on realism.

Secular paintings, too, were more realistic and literal in conception, in accordance to the military leader’s pragmatism.

KAMAKURA PERIOD

Nio GuardiansJizo Bosatsu

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MUROMACHI PERIOD 1392-1573

Following the fall of the Kamakura military government, the Ashikaga shoguns were great patrons of the arts, and in many cases skilled artists themselves.

They encouraged trade with China, and Japanese Zen monks who served as envoys brought back a wealth of Chinese art objects.

Great Zen monasteries developed into intellectual and cultural centers.

Monks who were amateur painters produced the first ink paintings in Japan, but professional artist quickly adopted the technique.

Zen monks also transmitted the Chinese custom of drinking powered tea, leading to the development of the Japanese tea ceremony.

MUROMACHI PERIOD

Imaginary Portraits of Immortal PoetsNegoro Lacquer Footed BowlYamada Doan, tiger, and dragon Screens

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MOMOYAMA PERIOD 1573-1615

After a period of civil strife, the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi reunified the country and built castle in Momoyama, literally “Peach Mountain”, south of Kyoto.

Firearms, introduced by the Portuguese in 1542, necessitated a new form of castle architecture.

Decorating the walls and sliding doors of these vast interiors gave rise to innovative and bold styles.

This taste for flamboyance carried over into textile and lacquerware designes.

At the same time, tea masters promoted a counter aesthetic that prized the rough texture and imperfect forms of native wares.

MOMOYAMA PERIOD

Uji bridge Screens

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EDO PERIOD 1615-1868

With the decisive battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa leyasu effectively usurped control of the county.

In 1603 he assumed the title of Shogun and established his seat of power in the small fishing village of Edo (modern day Tokyo).

The resumption of a stable government stimulated the Japanese economy and resulted in an unprecented surge of artistic activity.

In addition to several schools of painting, decorative arts such as ceramics, lacquer ware, textiles, and metalwork flourished as never before.

Ukiyo-e, ‘pictures of the floating world’, first emerged in the seventeenth century.

This new art form was created for the urban townspeople, a new class of art patron with their own interests and tastes.

Through mass-produced woodblock prints, inexpensive art works were available to everyone.

At first, artist specialized in depicting famous Kabuki actors or the beautiful women of the licensed pleasure quarters, but by the 19th century they also produced designs featuring landscapes, legendary heroes, and nature studies.

EDO PERIOD

Tobacco caddyWriting boxThe Courtesan Konosumi

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THE END!!!

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