Japanese Art and Architecture I INTRODUCTION Otani Oniji as Eitoku Otani Oniji as Eitoku is one of a number of woodblock prints created by the artist T? sh ?sai Sharaku between 1794 and 1795 during the Edo period in Japan.

Japanese Art and Architecture I INTRODUCTION Otani Oniji as Eitoku Otani Oniji as Eitoku is one of a number of woodblock prints created by the artist T? sh ?sai Sharaku between 1794 and 1795 during the Edo period in Japan. It is a portrait of a kabuki actor done in the Ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world) style. Japanese woodblock printing, which came from China, reached its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries. Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York Japanese Art and Architecture, works of art produced in Japan from the beginnings of human habitation there, sometime in the 10th millennium BC, to the present. Historically, Japan has been subject to sudden invasions of new and alien ideas followed by long periods of minimal contact with the outside world. Over time the Japanese developed the ability to absorb, imitate, and finally assimilate those elements of foreign culture that complemented their aesthetic preferences. The earliest complex art in Japan was produced in the 7th and 8th centuries AD in connection with Buddhism. In the 9th century, as the Japanese began to turn away from China and develop indigenous forms of expression, the secular arts became increasingly important; until the late 15th century, both religious and secular arts flourished. After the ? nin War (1467-1477) Japan entered a period of political, social, and economic disruption that lasted for nearly a century. In the state that emerged under the leadership of the Tokugawa clan, organized religion played a much less important role in people's lives, and the arts that survived were primarily secular. Tosh ?g ? Shrine, Japan In Nikk? , north of Tokyo, Japan, stands the magnificent Tosh?g ? shrine, built in the early 17th century during Japan's Edo Period (1603-1867). The shrine contains the mausoleum of the first Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. Masao Hayashi/Photo Researchers, Inc. Painting is the preferred artistic expression in Japan, practiced by amateur and professional alike. Until modern times, the Japanese wrote with a brush rather than a pen, and their familiarity with brush techniques has made them particularly sensitive to painterly values. They found sculpture a much less sympathetic medium for artistic expression; most Japanese sculpture is associated with religion, and the medium's use declined with the lessening importance of traditional Buddhism. Japanese ceramics are among the finest in the world and include the earliest known artifacts of their culture (see Pottery). In architecture, Japanese preferences for natural materials and an interaction of interior and exterior space are clearly expressed. Japanese art is characterized by unique polarities. In the ceramics of the prehistoric periods, for example, exuberance was followed by disciplined and refined artistry. Another instance is provided by two 17th-century structures that are poles apart: Katsura Detached Palace is an exercise in simplicity, with an emphasis on natural materials, rough and untrimmed, and an affinity for beauty achieved by accident; T?sh?gu Mausoleum is a rigidly symmetrical structure replete with brightly colored relief carvings covering every visible surface. Japanese art, valued not only for its simplicity but also for its colorful exuberance, has considerably influenced 19thcentury Western painting and 20th-century Western architecture. II J?MON AND YAYOI ART J? mon Pottery Japan's J? mon people, who thrived from 10,000 to 300 bc, made distinctive pottery for boiling, steaming, and storing food. The pots were made with coils of clay and then decorated by rolling carved sticks, plant fibers, or braided cords over the outer surface. This cord-marked (j? mon) pottery gave the culture its name. Scala/Art Resource, NY The first settlers of Japan, the J?mon people (10,000?-300? BC), named for the cord markings that decorated the surfaces of their clay vessels, were nomadic hunter- gatherers. They built simple houses of wood and thatch set into shallow earthen pits to provide warmth from the soil, and crafted pottery storage vessels and clay figurines called d ?gu. The next wave of immigrants was the Yayoi people, named for the district in Tokyo where remnants of their settlements first were found. These people, arriving in Japan about 350 BC, brought their knowledge of wetland rice cultivation, the manufacture of copper weapons and bronze bells (d ?taku), and wheel- thrown, kiln-fired ceramics. III KOFUN ART: HANIWA Haniwa Figure Beginning in the 4th century, clay sculptures called haniwa were produced in Japan. Representing human figures, animals, and inanimate objects such as hats, houses, and fans, haniwa were placed in rings around the huge keyhole-shaped earthen tombs built for Japan's early rulers. Giraudon/Art Resource, NY The third stage in Japanese prehistory, the Kofun, or Tumulus, period (AD 300?-552), represents a modification of Yayoi culture, attributable either to internal development or external force. In this period diverse groups of people formed political alliances and coalesced into a nation. Typical artifacts are bronze mirrors--symbols of political alliances--and clay sculptures called haniwa, erected outside tombs. IV ASUKA AND NARA ART Temple of T? dai-ji, Nara The temple of T? dai-ji is located in the city of Nara, the first permanent capital of Japan. Built in the 8th century and reconstructed in 1692, it is one of the oldest and most important Buddhist temples in Japan. It is also one of the world's largest structures made of wood. B&U International Picture Service During the Asuka and Nara periods, so named because the seat of Japanese government was located in the Asuka Valley from 552 to 710 and in the city of Nara until 784, the first significant invasion by Asian continental culture took place in Japan. The transmission of Buddhism provided the initial impetus for contacts between Korea, China, and Japan, and the Japanese recognized facets of Chinese culture that could profitably be incorporated into their own: a system for converting ideas and sounds into writing; historiography; complex theories of government, such as an effective bureaucracy; and, most important for the arts, advanced technology--new building techniques, more advanced methods of casting in bronze, and new techniques and mediums for painting. Throughout the 7th and 8th centuries, however, the major focus in contacts between Japan and the Asian continent was the development of Buddhism. Not all scholars agree on the significant dates and the appropriate names to apply to various time periods between 552, the official date of the introduction of Buddhism into Japan, and 784, when the Japanese capital was transferred from Nara. The most common designations are the Suiko period, 552-645; the Hakuh? period, 645-710; and the Tempy? period, 710-784. The earliest Buddhist structures still extant in Japan--and the oldest wooden buildings in the Far East--are found at the H?ry? -ji to the southwest of Nara. First built in the early 7th century as the private temple of Crown Prince Sh?toku consists of 41 independent buildings; the most important ones, however--the main worship hall, or Kond? (Golden Hall), and Goj?-no-t? (Five-story Pagoda)--stand in the center of an open area surrounded by a roofed cloister. The Kond?, in the style of Chinese worship halls, is a two-story structure of post-and-beam construction, capped by an irimoya, or hipped-gabled roof of ceramic tiles. Inside the Kond?, on a large rectangular platform, are some of the most important sculptures of the period. The central image is a Shaka Trinity (623), the historical Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas (Buddhist saints), a sculpture cast in bronze by the sculptor Tori Busshi (flourished early 7th century) in homage to the recently deceased Prince Sh?toku. At the four corners of the platform are the Guardian Kings of the Four Directions, carved in wood about 650. Also housed at H?ry?-ji is the Tamamushi Shrine, a wooden replica of a Kond?, which is set on a high wooden base that is decorated with figural paintings executed in a medium of mineral pigments mixed with lacquer. Temple building in the 8th century was focused around the T?dai-ji in Nara. Constructed as the headquarters for a network of temples in each of the provinces, the T?dai-ji is the most ambitious religious complex erected in the early centuries of Buddhist worship in Japan. Appropriately, the 16.2-m (53-ft) Buddha (completed 752) enshrined in the main hall, or Daibutsuden, is a Rushana Buddha, the figure that represents the essence of Buddhahood, just as the T? dai-ji represented the center for imperially sponsored Buddhism and its dissemination throughout Japan. Only a few fragments of the original statue survive, and the present hall and central Buddha are reconstructions from the Edo period (1603-1867). Clustered around the Daibutsuden on a gently sloping hillside are a number of secondary halls: the Hokked? (Lotus Sutra Hall), with its principal image, the Fukukenjaku Kannon (the most popular bodhisattva), crafted of dry lacquer (cloth dipped in lacquer and shaped over a wooden armature); the Kaidanin (Ordination Hall) with its magnificent clay statues of the Four Guardian Kings; and the storehouse, called the Sh?s?in. This last structure is of great importance as an art-historical cache, because in it are stored the utensils that were used in the temple's dedication ceremony in 752--the eye-opening ritual for the Rushana image--as well as government documents and many secular objects owned by the imperial family. V HEIAN ART In 794 the capital of Japan was officially transferred to Heian-kyo (present-day Ky?to), where it remained until 1868. The term Heian period refers to the years between 794 and 1185, the end of the Gempei civil war. The period is further divided into the early Heian and the late Heian, or Fujiwara, eras, the pivotal date being 894, the year imperial embassies to China were officially discontinued. The next period is named after the Fujiwara family, then the most powerful in the country, who ruled as regents for the emperor, becoming, in fact, civil dictators. A Early Heian Art In reaction to the growing wealth and power of organized Buddhism in Nara, the priest K? kai (posthumous name K?b ? Daishi, 774-835) journeyed to China to study Shingon, a more rigorous form of Buddhism, which he introduced into Japan in 806. At the core of Shingon worship are the mandala, diagrams of the spiritual universe; the Kong?kai, a chart of the myriad worlds of Buddhism; and the Taiz? kai, a pictorial representation of the realms of the Buddhist universe. The temples erected for this new sect were built in the mountains, far away from the court and the laity in the capital. The irregular topography of these sites forced Japanese architects to rethink the problems of temple construction, and in so doing to choose more indigenous elements of design. Cypress-bark roofs replaced those of ceramic tile, wood planks were used instead of earthen floors, and a separate worship area for the laity was added in front of the main sanctuary. The temple that best reflects the spirit of early Heian Shingon temples is the Mur?-ji (early 9th century), set deep in a stand of cypress trees on a mountain southeast of Nara. The wooden image of Shaka, the "historic" Buddha (early 9th century), enshrined in a secondary building at the Mur?-ji, is typical of the early Heian sculpture, with its ponderous body, covered by thick drapery folds carved in the hompa-shiki (rolling-wave) style, and its austere, withdrawn facial expression. B Fujiwara Art By ? d? in Temple The Amida (Buddhist) By? d ?in temple, located in Uji, near Ky?to, features the Ho-o-do (Phoenix Hall), which contains a large gilded wooden figure of the Amida Buddha created by the sculptor Jocho. The Ho-o-do was originally an aristocrat's country home but was converted into a monastery in 1053 when the rest of the temple was built. Orion Press/Art Resource, NY In the Fujiwara period, Pure Land Buddhism, which offered easy salvation through belief in Amida (the Buddha of the Western Paradise), became popular. Concurrently, the Ky? to nobility developed a society devoted to elegant aesthetic pursuits. So secure and beautiful was their world that they could not conceive of Paradise as being much different. The Amida hall, blending the secular with the religious, houses one or more Buddha images within a structure resembling the mansions of the nobility. The H?-?-d? (Phoenix Hall, completed 1053) of the By?d ?in, a temple in Uji to the southeast of Ky?to, is the exemplar of Fujiwara Amida halls. It consists of a main rectangular structure flanked by two L-shaped wing corridors and a tail corridor, set at the edge of a large artificial pond. Inside, a single golden image of Amida (circa 1053) is installed on a high platform. The Amida sculpture was executed by J?ch?, who used a new canon of proportions and a new technique (y?segi), in which multiple pieces of wood are carved out like shells and joined from the inside. Applied to the walls of the hall are small relief carvings of celestials, the host believed to have accompanied Amida when he descended from the Western Paradise to gather the souls of believers at the moment of death and transport them in lotus blossoms to Paradise. Raig? (Descent of the Amida Buddha) paintings on the wooden doors of the H? -?-d? are an early example of Yamato-e, Japanese-style painting, because they contain representations of the scenery around Ky? to. In the last century of the Heian period, the horizontal, illustrated narrative handscroll, the emaki, came to the fore. Dating from about 1130, the illustrated Tale of Genji represents one of the high points of Japanese painting. Written about the year 1000 by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting to the Empress Akiko, the novel deals with the life and loves of Prince Genji and the world of the Heian court after his death. The 12th-century artists of the emaki version devised a system of pictorial conventions that convey visually the emotional content of each scene. In the second half of the century, a different, more lively style of continuous narrative illustration became popular. The Ban Dainagon Ekotoba (late 12th century, Sakai Tadahir? Collection), a scroll that deals with an intrigue at court, emphasizes figures in active motion depicted in rapidly executed brush strokes and thin but vibrant colors. VI KAMAKURA ART Kamakura Daibutsu Buddhism was introduced to Japan in ad 539, when a Korean ruler sought an alliance with the ruler of Yamato in Japan. To please the Japanese, the Korean ruler sent a statue of the Buddha and some Buddhist scriptures, which he described as the greatest treasures he could send. The Daibutsu (Great Buddha) figure at Kamakura, Japan, was cast in bronze in 1252 by either Ono Goroemon or Tanji Hisatomo, both leading bronze casters of the time. The statue is 11.4 m (37.4 ft) high and weighs about 93 tons. The figure depicts Amitabha (also known as Amida Buddha) in perfect repose and passionless calm. SuperStock In 1180 a civil war broke out between two military clans, the Taira and the Minamoto; five years later the Minamoto emerged victorious and established a de facto seat of government at the seaside village of Kamakura, where it remained until 1333. With the shift of power from the nobility to the warrior class, the arts had to satisfy a new audience: soldiers, men devoted to the skills of warfare; priests committed to making Buddhism available to illiterate commoners; and conservatives--the nobility and some members of the priesthood who regretted the declining power of the court. Thus, realism, a popularizing trend, and a classical revival characterize the art of the Kamakura period. A Sculpture Unkei's Statue of Muchaku Celebrated Japanese sculptor Unkei created this wooden statue of the Buddhist sage Muchaku in 1208 for the K? fuku-ji Temple at Nara. It is considered an outstanding example of realistic portrait sculpture in Japanese art. Sakamoto Photo Research Library/Corbis The Kei school of sculptors, particularly Unkei, created a new, more realistic style of sculpture. The two Ni? guardian images (1203) in the Great South Gate of the T?dai-ji in Nara illustrate Unkei's dynamic suprarealistic style. The images, about 8 m (about 26 ft) tall, were carved of multiple blocks in a period of about three months, a feat indicative of a developed studio system of artisans working under the direction of a master sculptor. Unkei's polychromed wood sculptures (1208, K?fuku-ji Temple, Nara) of two Indian sages, Muchaku and Seshin, the legendary founders of the Hoss? sect, are among the most accomplished realistic works of the period; as rendered by Unkei, they are remarkably individualized and believable images. B Calligraphy and Painting Japanese Calligraphy This hanging scroll is an example of Japanese calligraphy. Although calligraphy is generally considered a form of lettering, it is also a drawing style. The lettering and figure of a sage are done in ink, using a brush. The rectangular forms are made with stamps, using red ink. Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York The Kegon Engi Emaki, the illustrated history of the founding of the Kegon sect, is an excellent example of the popularizing trend in Kamakura painting. The Kegon sect, one of the most important in the Nara period, fell on hard times during the ascendancy of the Pure Land sects. After the Gempei civil war (1180-85), Priest My?-e of the K?zanji Temple sought to revive the sect and also to provide a refuge for women widowed by the war. The wives of samurai, even noblewomen, were discouraged from learning more than a syllabary system for transcribing sounds and ideas, and most were incapable of reading texts that employed Chinese ideographs. Thus, the Kegon Engi Emaki combines passages of text, written with a maximum of easily readable syllables, and illustrations that have the dialogue between characters written next to the speakers, a technique comparable to contemporary comic strips. The plot of the emaki, the lives of the two Korean priests who founded the Kegon sect, is swiftly paced and filled with fantastic feats such as a journey to the palace of the Ocean King, and a poignant love story. A work in a more conservative vein is the illustrated version of Murasaki Shikibu's diary. Emaki versions of her novel continued to be produced, but the nobility, attuned to the new interest in realism yet nostalgic for past days of wealth and power, revived and illustrated the diary in order to recapture the splendor of the author's times. One of the most beautiful passages illustrates the episode in which Murasaki Shikibu is playfully held prisoner in her room by two young courtiers, while, just outside, moonlight gleams on the mossy banks of a rivulet in the imperial garden. VII MUROMACHI ART Japanese Dry Garden, Ky? to The Daisenin Garden occupies a confined area at the Daitokuji Temple in Ky?to, Japan. In a so-called dry garden like this one, raked white sand or pebbles take the place of water and appear to flow past rocks and under a stone bridge. Dry gardens were developed by Zen Buddhist priests as an aid to meditation and are sometimes called Zen gardens. Haruzo Ohashi During the Muromachi period (1338-1573), also called the Ashikaga period, a profound change took place in Japanese culture. The Ashikaga military clan took control of the shogunate and moved its headquarters back to Ky?to, to the Muromachi district of the city. With the return of government to the capital, the popularizing trends of the Kamakura period came to an end, and cultural expression took on a more aristocratic, elitist character. Zen Buddhism, the Chan sect traditionally thought to have been founded in China in the 6th century A AD, was introduced for a second time into Japan and took root. Painting Sesshu's Falcons and Herons Japanese artist Sessh?, also a Zen Buddhist priest, painted Falcons and Herons in the 15th century. He is one of the most important artists of the Muromachi period of Japanese art (1338-1573). While studying in China Sessh? was influenced by the use of monochromatic coloring, a technique demonstrated in Falcons and Herons. An adept of the Chinese Ma-Xia (MaHsia) style of landscape painting, his work emphasized delicate landscape compositions and spontaneous brushwork. THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE Because of secular ventures and trading missions to China organized by Zen temples, many Chinese paintings and objects of art were imported into Japan and profoundly influenced Japanese artists working for Zen temples and the shogunate. Not only did these imports change the subject matter of painting, but they also modified the use of color; the bright colors of Yamato-e yielded to the monochromes of painting in the Chinese manner. Typical of early Muromachi painting is the depiction by the priest-painter Kao (active early 15th century) of the legendary monk Kensu (Hsien-tzu in Chinese) at the moment he achieved enlightenment. This type of painting was executed with quick brush strokes and a minimum of detail. Catching a Catfish with a Gourd (early 15th century, Taiz?-in, My?shin-ji, Ky? to), by the priest-painter Josetsu (active about 1400), marks a turning point in Muromachi painting. Executed originally for a low- standing screen, it has been remounted as a hanging scroll with inscriptions by contemporary figures above, one of which refers to the painting as being in the "new style." In the foreground a man is depicted on the bank of a stream holding a small gourd and looking at a large slithery catfish. Mist fills the middle ground, and the background mountains appear to be far in the distance. It is generally assumed that the "new style" of the painting, executed about 1413, refers to a more Chinese sense of deep space within the picture plane. The foremost artists of the Muromachi period are the priest-painters Sh? bun and Sessh? . Sh? bun, a monk at the Ky?to temple of Shokoku-ji, has created in the painting Reading in a Bamboo Grove (1446, Tokyo National Museum) a realistic landscape with deep recession into space. Sessh?, unlike most artists of the period, was able to journey to China and study Chinese painting at its source. The Long Handscroll (Mori Collection, Yamaguchi) is one of Sessh? 's most accomplished works, depicting a continuing landscape through the four seasons. B Architecture Another major development of the period was the tea ceremony and the house in which it was held. The purpose of the ceremony is to spend time with friends who enjoy the arts, to cleanse the mind of the concerns of daily life, and to receive a bowl of tea served in a gracious and tasteful manner. The rustic style of the rural cottage was adopted for the tea house, emphasizing such natural materials as bark-covered logs and woven straw. VIII MOMOYAMA ART In the Momoyama period (1573-1603), a succession of military leaders, such as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, attempted to bring peace and political stability to Japan after an era of almost 100 years of warfare. Oda, a minor chieftain, acquired power sufficient to take de facto control of the government in 1568 and, five years later, to oust the last Ashikaga shogun. Hideyoshi took command after Oda's assassination, but his plans to establish a hereditary shogunate were foiled by Ieyasu, who established the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603. A Architecture Himeji Castle Himeji Castle in Hy?go Prefecture, Japan, was originally built in the mid-14th century, but was rebuilt in its present form in 1609. The castle is made of wood coated with white plaster. The high rock wall on which the castle sits was necessary to protect the inhabitants from firearms, weapons that had recently been introduced to Japan from Europe. The design of the castle was an attempt to combine strength and elegance. Continuum Productions Corporation/Werner Forman Two new forms of architecture were developed in response to the militaristic climate of the times: the castle, a defensive structure built to house a feudal lord and his soldiers in times of trouble; and the shoin, a reception hall and private study area designed to reflect the relationships of lord and vassal within a feudal society. Himeji Castle (built in its present form 1609), popularly known as White Heron Castle, with its gracefully curving roofs and its complex of three subsidiary towers around the main tenshu (or keep), is one of the most beautiful structures of the Momoyama period. The ? hiroma of Nij? Castle (17th century) in Ky?to is one of the classic examples of the shoin, with its tokonoma (alcove), shoin window (overlooking a carefully landscaped garden), and clearly differentiated areas for the Tokugawa lords and their vassals. B Painting The most important school of painting in the Momoyama period was that of the Kan? (family), and the greatest innovation of the period was the formula, developed by Kan? Eitoku for the creation of monumental landscapes on the sliding doors enclosing a room. The decoration of the main room facing the garden of the Juk? -in, a subtemple of Daitokuji (a Zen temple in Ky?to), is perhaps the best extant example of Eitoku's work. A massive plum tree and twin pines are depicted on pairs of sliding screens in diagonally opposite corners, their trunks repeating the verticals of the corner posts and their branches extending to left and right, unifying the adjoining panels. Eitoku's screen, Chinese Lions, also in Ky? to, reveals the bold, brightly colored style of painting preferred by the samurai. Hasegawa T?haku, a contemporary of Eitoku, developed a somewhat different and more decorative style for large-scale screen paintings. In his Maple Screen, now in the temple of Chishaku-in, Ky?to, he placed the trunk of the tree in the center and extended the limbs nearly to the edge of the composition, creating a flatter, less architectonic work than Eitoku, but a visually gorgeous painting. His sixfold screen, Pine Wood (Tokyo National Museum), is a masterly rendering in monochrome ink of a grove of trees enveloped in mist. IX ART OF THE EDO PERIOD Japanese Ukiyo-e Print This colored woodblock print of the Edo period (1603-1867) was created by a Japanese artist of the Ukiyo-e school. The artists of this school represented scenes of daily life in a style characterized by graceful, flowing lines and precise detail. Over time Ukiyo-e prints became more colorful and highly patterned. Each color required a different woodblock. ARS Planning The Tokugawa shogunate of the Edo period gained undisputed control of the government in 1603 with a commitment to bring peace and economic and political stability to the country; in large measure it was successful. The shogunate survived until 1867, when it was forced to capitulate because of its failure to deal with pressure from Western nations to open the country to foreign trade. One of the dominant themes in the Edo period was the repressive policies of the shogunate and the attempts of artists to escape these strictures. The foremost of these was the closing of the country to foreigners and the accoutrements of their cultures, and the imposition of strict codes of behavior affecting every aspect of life--the clothes one wore, the person one married, and the activities one could or should not pursue. In the early years of the Edo period, however, the full impact of Tokugawa policies had not yet been felt, and some of Japan's finest expressions in architecture and painting were produced: Katsura Palace in Ky?to and the paintings of S? tatsu, pioneer of the Rimpa school. A Architecture Katsura Detached Palace, Ky?to Katsura Detached Palace, in Ky? to, Japan, was completed about 1662, during the Edo period, for a prince of the imperial family. The buildings of the palace complex were designed to reflect the clean, simple lines of classic Japanese teahouses, with some innovative restatements. A traditional Japanese garden surrounds the complex. J. Kugler/FPG International, LLC Katsura, built in imitation of Prince Genji's palace, contains a cluster of shoin buildings that combine elements of classic Japanese architecture with innovative restatements. The whole complex is surrounded by a beautiful garden with paths for walking. B Painting S?tatsu evolved a superb decorative style by re-creating themes from classical literature, using brilliantly colored figures and motifs from the natural world set against gold-leaf backgrounds. One of his finest works is the pair of screens The Waves at Matsushima in the Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C. A century later, K?rin reworked S?tatsu's style and created visually gorgeous works uniquely his own. Perhaps his finest are the screen paintings of red and white plum blossoms. C Woodblock Prints Festival on the Water, Japan Festivals on the water were one of the great sights of Edo (now known as Tokyo). In this print a crowd crosses Nihonbashi in the centre of Edo, while boats of revelers sail the waters on a summer evening. This woodcut is a relatively late work from the Edo period. ARS Planning The school of art best known in the West is that of the Ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints of the demimonde, the world of the kabuki theater and the brothel district. Ukiyo-e prints began to be produced in the late 17th century, but in 1764 Harunobu produced the first polychrome print. Print designers of the next generation, including Torii Kiyonaga and Utamaro, created elegant and sometimes insightful depictions of courtesans. In the 19th century the dominant figure was Hiroshige, a creator of romantic and somewhat sentimental landscape prints. The odd angles and shapes through which Hiroshige often viewed landscape, and the work of Kiyonaga and Utamaro, with its emphasis on flat planes and strong linear outlines, had a profound impact on such Western artists as Edgar Degas and Vincent van Gogh. Hokusai's The Wave Among the thousands of woodblock prints that Japanese artist Hokusai made during his prolific career, among the most famous is The Wave, created in 1831. Giraudon/Art Resource, NY Another school of painting contemporary with Ukiyo-e was Bunjinga, a style based on paintings executed by Chinese scholar-painters. Just as Ukiyo-e artists chose to depict figures from life outside the strictures of the Tokugawa shogunate, Bunjin artists turned to Chinese culture. The exemplars of this style are Ike Taiga, Yosa Buson, Tanomura Chikuden, and Yamamoto Baiitsu. X ART SINCE 1867 Meiji Shrine, Tokyo Meiji Shrine was built as a memorial to Emperor Meiji, who ruled Japan from 1867 to 1912, and his consort, Empress Sh ? ken. Located just west of central Tokyo, the shrine is surrounded by wooded grounds featuring trees from all parts of Japan. Kimimasa Mayama/REUTERS/Corbis In the years after 1867, when Emperor Meiji ascended the throne, Japan was once again invaded by new and alien forms of culture. A Painting Poppies Poppies by Kokei Kobayashi is a contemporary hanging scroll. The influence of scroll painting from the 16th century can be seen, as well as that of 17th and 18th century screens. The line work in the leaves is extremely graceful, and although there is no sense of deep space, the overlapping of the foliage is complex. Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York The first response of the Japanese was open-hearted acceptance, and in 1876 the Technological Art School was opened, employing Italian instructors to teach Western methods. The second response was a pendulum swing in the opposite direction spearheaded by Okakura Kakuz? and the American Ernest Fenollosa, who encouraged Japanese artists to retain traditional themes and techniques while creating works more in keeping with contemporary taste. Out of these two poles of artistic theory developed Y? ga (Western-style painting) and Nihonga (Japanese painting), categories that remain valid to the present day. B Architecture Tange's National Gymnasium, Tokyo Japanese architect Kenz? Tange designed the Tokyo National Gymnasium as a stadium for the 1964 Olympics. Since then it has become a landmark of 20th-century architecture. With its curved roof suspended from cables, the building is notable for its structural innovation. A smaller stadium designed by Tange can be seen to the right. National Studium The need to rebuild Japan after World War II proved a great stimulus to Japanese architects, and contemporary Japanese buildings rank with the finest in the world in terms of technology and formal conception. The best-known Japanese architect of the postwar period was Kenz? Tange, whose National Gymnasiums (1964) for the Tokyo Olympics are dramatic statements of form and movement. The gymnasiums emphasize the contrast and blending of pillars and walls, and their sweeping roofs are reminiscent of tomo-e (an ancient whorl-shaped heraldic symbol). Later figures, such as Isozaki Arata and Ando Tadao, have given Japan an even stronger and more distinctive presence on the international architectural scene. See also Chinese Art and Architecture; Korean Art and Architecture; Lacquerwork; Prints and Printmaking. Contributed By: Penelope Mason Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.