Keys to Understanding the Arts of Japan – Teaching Guide

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Outline of Presentation – with [Timecode] & Slide #

AP required works are highlighted.

Part 1 duration 13 min

Introduction: Where to Begin

Great Wave off the Coast of Kanagawa¹ from 36 Views of Mount Fuji, by Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1830-1832 #1
Book Recommendations #2
Museums Links #3
Online Resources Links#4

How to Begin [02:55] #5

Comparison
- Which is Older? #6
- Which is More Realistic? #7
Place [0:12] #8–⁠12
- Japan’s Location in East Asia (Notes land bridges to mainland in early times)
- Japanese Islands (geological formations; “ring of fire”; Earth quakes, tsunami)
- Flora and Fauna of Japan
- Sea and Land Routes
- Home Provinces (and Nara, Kyoto, Osaka)#12

General questions / issues [10:44] #13

What makes Japanese art unique? (Notes proximity to China and Korea)
- What was it about Japanese art that made it so interesting to Europeans?
- How does the artist view his/her past?
- What is the relationship between artist and patron?

Transhistorical themes to think about [02:20] #14

Relationships between religious and secular
- Relationships between the indigenous and the imported
- Relationships between the natural and the artificial
- Continuity of place; pictures of famous places – meisho / meisho-e

Part 2 duration 16 min

Periods in Japanese History Timeline #15

What Makes Japanese Art Unique? #16–24

Material

Clay (Haniwa figures – Kofun or Old Tomb period) #16–17
Wood #18
Lacquer #19
Paper #20

Playfulness #21–24

Haniwa dog #21
Lion and Tiger by Soga Shohaku#22
Chinese Lions by Kano Eitoku #23
Frolicking Animals by Chōjū-giga #24

Part 3 duration 15 min

Relationship between the Natural and the Artificial #25

Dry Landscape Gardens:#26–28
- Ryōanji Temple (c.1490)#26Ryōanji, Garden and Plan of Hōjō #27
- Comparison: Dry Landscape Garden. c. 1513, Daitokuji monastery, Kyoto #28
Pine Trees in Mist by Hasegawa Tōhaku (17^th c.) [05:46]#29–30
Pine Trees in Snow by Maruyama Ōkyo (18^th c) #31
Torn Bag Iga ware vase (late 16^th c.) [09:14]#33
Comparison: Torn Bag and Tatsutagawa Dish by Ogata Kenzan (early 18^th c.) #34

Stoneware with enamel overglaze; Tatsuta River, “Tatsutagawa,” and its red maple leaves always meant autumn.

Architecture [10:45]

Katsura Villa (early 17^th c.) #35
Comparison: of Katsura Villa with Versailles(built at same time)
- Ornament, light, material, scale, function: public/private
- Interiors #36
- Gardens #37

Part 4 duration 15 min

How does the artist view his/her past?

What is the relationship between artist and patron? #38

Shaka Triad by Tori Busshi² in the Horyu-ji Temple (bronze sculpture 623 CE)

See in Resources: Visual example (no slide)

Selections from the Tale of Genji Scrolls, scene from Ch. 36[02:45]#39–45
- Handscroll format #40
- Conventions in Japanese painting: “remove roof”; simplicity of depiction; parallel verticals and horizontals; “dash for the eyes, hook for the nose” #41–45
Night Attack on the Sanjō Palace (ca. 1275) fromScrolls of the Events of the Heiji Era, (Heiji Monogatari Emaki, late 13^th c.) [12:35] #46–48

Part 5 duration 14 min

How does the artist view his/her past? (continued)

Red Robed Daruma (anonymous, 13^th c.)modeled after Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk from southern India, who brought the Chan School of Buddhism to China³ #49
Comparison: Red Robed Daruma (13^th c.)and Daruma by Soga Shohaku (late 18^th c.) #50
Comparison: Daruma by Soga Shohaku (late 18^th c) and Open Wide My Eyes but See No Scenery; Fix My Gaze Upon My Heart, by Murakami Takashi^4,5 (2007) #51

Relationship between the Indigenous and the Imported #52

Landscape in 4 Seasons by Sesshu Toyo⁶ (1468) as 4 hanging scrolls #53
Traveling among Mountains and Streams by Fan Guan (c. 1000 Chinese) #54
Pine Trees on the Beach (with Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons), Anon., 16^th c. #55

Pair of six-panel screens, each 106 Mx 312.5 cm

Comparison of Traveling among Mountains and Streams by Fan Guan (c. 1000 Chinese) and Pine Trees on the Beach (with Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons) (16^th c.) #56
Pine Trees on the Beach (with Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons) #57

Continuity of Place; Pictures of Famous Places (meisho/meisho-e) [03:08] #58

Meisho (名所, lit. “famous places”) are sites in Japan famous for their associations with specific poetic or literary references. Used in conjunction with utamakura, meisho add layers of allusion to poetry and literary and dramatic works which would not otherwise be present. Meisho-e means “pictures of famous places” in Japanese. Japanese painters had depicted famous sacred and scenic sites since the late ninth century, but it was during the Edo period (1615–1868) that meisho-e blossomed in a profusion of woodblock illustrated books and prints.

Viewing Maple Leaves at Takao, by Kano Hideyori (mid-16th c.) #59–61

Six-panel screen; ink, colors, gold on paper.

The Tales of Ise, Yatsuhashi by 尾形光琳 Ogata Kōrin (early 18th c.) #62

Japanese hanging scroll (Tokyo National Museum) – the images of irises along an 8-section bridge refer to an episode from The Tales of Ise, a poem narrative from the Heian Period (11^th c.)

Poem translated to English:

“I have a beloved wife,

Familiar as the skirt

Of a well-worn robe,

And so this distant journeying

Fills my heart with grief.”

In Japanese:

Karagoromo

kitsutsu narenishi

tsuma shi areba

harubaru kinuru

tabi wo shi zo omou

Note: Kakitsubata (燕子花)=“Iris”

See in Resources: Classroom Exercise writing Waka.

Irises at Yatsuhashi screens by Ogata Kōrin

Pair of six-panel folding screens; colors and gold leaf on paper. Each 179.1 x 371.5 cm Top Image #63

“The stately, vertical forms of irises set against an angular bridge that sweeps diagonally across both screens refer to an episode in The Ise Stories (Ise monogatari): Exiled from Kyoto after an affair with a high-ranking court lady, the story’s protagonist stops at Yatsuhashi, a place where a stream branches into eight channels, each with its own bridge. The sight of irises prompts him to compose a nostalgic love poem. The first syllable of each line forms the Japanese word for irises (kakitsubata).” (Metropolitan Museum of Art annotation.)

Bottom: Yatsuhashi episode from the Tales of Ise, anonymous (17^th c.)

Irises at Yatsuhasi (c. 1710)and Irises (c. 1701–05) by Ogata Korin #64

Each is composed of a pair of six-panel folding screens; colors and gold leaf on paper (2 images)

Top: Irises at Yatsuhashi screens by Ogata Korin (c. 1710)

Bottom: Irises screens by Ogata Korin (c. 1701–05)

Travelers at Yatsuhashi by Suzuki Harunobu (Edo period, about 1767–68) #65