The artistic culture of Japan: development and species

What is the artistic culture of Japan? How did it develop? These and other questions will be answered in the article. Japanese culture was formed as a result of the historical movement, which began when the Japanese moved from the mainland to the archipelago and the civilization of the period Jomon was born.

The present enlightenment of this people was strongly influenced by Europe, Asia (especially Korea and China) and North America. One of the signs of the culture of the Japanese is its long development in the era of complete isolation of the state (the policy of the Sakoku) from all other countries during the reign of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which lasted until the middle of the XIX century - the beginning of the Meiji era.

Impact

How did the artistic culture of Japan develop? The civilization was significantly influenced by the country's separate regional location, climatic and geographic features, as well as natural phenomena (typhoons and frequent earthquakes). This was expressed in the extraordinary attitude of the population towards nature as a living being. A feature of the Japanese national character is the ability to admire the current beauty of the universe, which is expressed in many types of arts of a small country.

The artistic culture of Japan was created under the influence of Buddhism, Shintoism and Confucianism. These same directions also influenced its further development.

The ancient times

Agree, Japan's art culture is magnificent. Shinto is rooted in ancient times. Buddhism, although it appeared before our era, began to spread only from the fifth century. The Heian time (8th-12th centuries) is considered the golden age of the statehood of Japan. In the same period the picturesque culture of this country reached its climax.

In the 13th century Confucianism appeared. At this stage, there was a division of the philosophy of Confucius and Buddhism.

Hieroglyphs

The image of Japan's artistic culture is embodied in a unique versification, which is called haiku (hokku). In this country is also very developed art of calligraphy, which, according to legend, originated from heavenly divine images. It was they who breathed life into writing, so the population is anxious about every sign in spelling.

It is rumored that the Japanese culture was presented with hieroglyphs, because from them appeared images surrounding the inscribed. A little later, a strong union of elements of painting and a poem in one work began to be observed.

If you study the Japanese scroll, you can find that the work contains two kinds of symbols. These are signs of writing - seals, poems, colophonies, as well as picturesque. At the same time, the Kabuki theater became very popular. To a different kind of theater - But - mostly military personnel prefer. Samurais of Japan, their severity and cruelty had on But strong influence.

Painting

The artistic culture of medieval Japan has been studied by many specialists. A huge role in its development was played by kaiga painting, which in Japanese means drawing or painting. This art is regarded as the oldest kind of painting of the state, which is determined by a huge number of decisions and forms.

In it, a special place is taken by nature, which determines the sacred beginning. The separation of paintings on sumi-e and Yamato-e exists from the tenth century. The first style developed closer to the fourteenth century. He is a kind of monochrome watercolor. Yamato-e - this horizontally rolled scrolls, which are usually used in the design of works of literature.

A bit later, in the 17th century, a seal appeared in the country on plaques - ukiyo-e. The masters depicted landscapes, geishas, famous actors of the Kabuki Theater. This kind of painting in the 18th century had a strong influence on the art of Europe. The emerging trend was called "japanism". In the Middle Ages, the culture of Japan went beyond the borders of the country - it was used in the design of stylish and fashionable interiors around the world.

Calligraphy

Ah, how beautiful is the artistic culture of Japan! Comprehension of harmony with nature can be seen in every segment of it. What is modern Japanese calligraphy? It is called shodo ("the way of notices"). Calligraphy, like writing, in Japanese schools is a compulsory discipline. The scientists found out that this art came here simultaneously with Chinese writing.

By the way, in ancient times, people's culture was judged by its level of possession of calligraphy. Today, there are a large number of styles of writing, and they are developed by Buddhist monks.

Sculpture

How did the culture of Japan? The development and types of this area of human life we study in as much detail as possible. Sculpture is the most ancient type of art in Japan. In ancient times, the people of this country made from ceramics figurines of idols and utensils. Then people began to install on the graves images of haniw, created from burnt clay.

The development of sculptural craft in modern Japanese culture is associated with the spread of Buddhism in the state. One of the most ancient representatives of Japanese monuments is the statue of Amitabha Buddha, placed in the temple of Dzenko-ji, made of wood.

Sculptures very often were made from uneven bars, but they looked very rich: the masters covered them with varnish, gold and bright colors.

Origami

Do you like the artistic culture of Japan? Comprehension of harmony with nature will bring unforgettable impressions. A characteristic feature of the Japanese culture were amazing origami products ("folded paper"). This skill owes its origin to China, where, in fact, the parchment was invented.

First, "folded paper" was used in religious rituals. This art could study only the upper class. But after the Second World War origami left the dwellings of the nobles and found their admirers all over the Earth.

Ikebana

Everyone should know what the artistic culture of the countries of the East is. Japan has invested a lot of labor in its development. Another component of the culture of this amazing country is Ikebana ("fresh flowers", "a new life of flowers"). The Japanese are admirers of aesthetics and simplicity. These two qualities are invested in the work. Sophistication of images is achieved through the beneficial use of the natural beauty of vegetation. Ikebana, like the origami, also served as part of the religious ceremony.

Thumbnails

Probably, many have already realized that the artistic culture of Ancient China and Japan is closely intertwined. And what is bonsai? This is a Japanese unique ability to cultivate an almost exact miniature copy of a real tree.

In Japan, it is also common to make Netsuke - small sculptures, which are a kind of keyring. Often such figures in this capacity were attached to the clothes of the Japanese, who had no pockets. They not only decorated it, but also served as an original counterbalance. Keyrings were made in the form of a key, a pouch, a woven basket.

History of painting

The artistic culture of Ancient Japan is of interest to many people. Painting in this country was born during the Japanese Paleolithic period and developed in this way:

• The Yamato period. In the days of Asuka and Kofun (IV-VII centuries), along with the introduction of hieroglyphs, the creation of a state-style Chinese regime and the popularization of Buddhism, many works of art were brought to Japan from the Celestial Empire. After that, in the Land of the Rising Sun, they began to reproduce paintings in the Chinese style.
• Time for Nara. In the VI and VII centuries. Buddhism continued to develop in Japan. In this regard, began to flourish religious painting, used to decorate the numerous temples built by the aristocracy. In general, during the Nara era, the contribution to the development of sculpture and art was greater than in painting. The early paintings of this cycle include the murals of the inner walls of the Horyu-ji temple in Nara Prefecture, narrating about the life of Buddha Shakyamuni.
• The Heian Age. In Japanese painting, beginning with the tenth century, the trend of Yamato-e is singled out, as we wrote above. Such paintings are horizontal scrolls, which illustrated books.
• The era of Muromachi. In the XIV century, the style of soup-e (monochrome watercolor) appeared, and in the first half of the 17th century. Artists began to print engravings on plaques - ukiyo-e.
• The painting of the Azuthi-Momoyama era stands in sharp contrast to the murals of the Muromachi period. It has a polychrome style with a wide use of silver and gold foil. During this period, Kano's educational institution enjoyed great prestige and renown. Its founder was Kano Aitoku, who painted ceilings and sliding doors for the separation of rooms. Such drawings were decorated with castles and palaces of the military nobility.
• Era Maiji. From the second half of the XIX century, art was divided into competing traditional and European styles. During the Maiji era, Japan underwent great social and political changes in the process of modernization and Europeanization, organized by the authorities. Young prospective artists were sent abroad for study, and foreign painters came to Japan to create school art programs. Be that as it may, after the initial burst of curiosity about the artistic style of the West, the pendulum swung in the opposite direction, and the Japanese traditional style revived. In 1880, the customs of Western art were banned at official exhibitions and were sharply criticized.

Poetry

The artistic culture of Ancient Japan is still being studied. Its feature is versatility, some synthetic, as it was formed under the influence of different religions. It is known that Japanese classical poetry emerged from everyday life, acted within it, and this its earthiness to some extent preserved in the traditional forms of the current poem - the three-line haiku and pentathism of the tank, which differ in pronounced mass character. By the way, it is this quality that will differentiate them from the "free verse" that has gravitated towards elitism, which appeared in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century under the influence of European poetry.

Have you noticed that the stages in the development of Japan's art culture are multifaceted? Poetry in the society of this country played a special role. One of the most famous genres is hockey, you can understand it only by getting acquainted with its history.

It first appeared in the Heian age, was similar to the style of the Rang, which was like an outlet for poets who wanted to take a break from the profound verse of the Wah. Haykai turned into an independent genre in the 16th century, as the Rang became too serious, and the haiku relied on the spoken language and was still humorous.

Of course, the art culture of Japan is briefly described in many works, but we will try to talk about it in more detail. It is known that in the Middle Ages one of the most famous literary Japanese genres was the tank ("laconic song"). In most cases, these are the fifth, consisting of a pair of stanzas with a fixed number of syllables: 5-7-5 syllables in three lines of the first stanza, and 7-7 in two lines of the second. As for the contents, the tank uses the following scheme: the first stanza represents a specific natural image, and the second represents a person's echoing with this image:

• In the remote wilderness mountains
  Pheasant long-tailed dozing -
  This long, long night
  Can I sleep alone? ( Kakinomoto no Hitovaro, the beginning of the 8th century, translation of Sanovich .)

Japanese drama

Many argue that the artistic culture of China and Japan is fascinating. Do you like stage art? Traditional drama of the Land of the Rising Sun is divided into dzori (puppet theater), the drama of the theater No (kyogen and yokoku), the Kabuki theater and the singake. The customs of this art have five basic theatrical genres: kyogen, but, bugaku, kabuki and bunraku. All these five traditions are still available today. Despite the enormous differences, they are connected by common aesthetic principles, which establish Japanese art. By the way, the dramatic art of Japan originated on stage No.

The Kabuki Theater appeared in the 17th century and reached its apogee by the end of the 18th century. The form of representations that has developed during this period is also preserved on the modern stage of Kabuki. The performances of this theater, in contrast to the scenes No, focused on a narrow circle of admirers of ancient art, are designed for a mass audience. The roots of the Kabuki skills originate from the performances of comedians - performers of small farces, sketches, which consisted of dances and singing. Kabuki's theatrical mastery absorbed the elements of dzoruri and No.

The appearance of the Kabuki Theater is associated with the name of the worker of the Buddhist sanctuary O-Kuni in Kyoto (1603). O-Kuni performed on the stage with religious dances, which included the movements of folk dances Nembutsu-odori. Her performances alternated with comic plays. At this stage, the productions were called yujo-kabuki (Kabuki courtesans), O-Kuni-kabuki or onna-kabuki (ladies' Kabuki).

Engravings

In the last century, Europeans, and then Russians, through engraving, faced the phenomenon of Japanese art. Meanwhile, in the Land of the Rising Sun, a picture on a tree was not considered a skill at first, although it had all the properties of mass culture-cheapness, accessibility, circulation. Connoisseurs of ukiyo-e were able to achieve the highest intelligibility and simplicity both in the embodiment of subjects and in their choice.

Ukiyo-e was a special art school, so she was able to nominate a number of outstanding masters. Thus, with the name of Hishikawa Moronobu (1618-1694), the initial phase of the development of the plot engraving is connected. In the middle of the XVIII century, the first connoisseur of multi-color engraving by Suzuki Harunobu was created. The main motives of his work were lyrical scenes, in which attention was paid not to action, but to the transmission of moods and feelings: love, tenderness, sadness. Like the refined ancient art of the Heian period, the ukiyo-e virtuosos revived in the renewed urban environment an extraordinary cult of the subtle beauty of a woman.

The only difference was that, instead of the Heian proud aristocrats, the engravings depicted elegant geishas from the entertainment quarters of Edo. Artist Utamaro (1753-1806 gg.) Is, perhaps, unique in the history of painting an example of a professional who completely dedicated his creation to depicting ladies in various poses and toilets, in different life circumstances. One of his best works is the engraving of "Geisha Osama", which is stored in Moscow, in the Pushkin Museum of Painting. The artist remarkably subtly conveyed the unity of gesture and mood, facial expressions.

Manga and anime

Many artists are trying to study the painting of Japan. And what is anime (Japanese animation)? It differs from other animation genres with a greater mood for an adult viewer. Here there is a duplicative division into styles for an unambiguous target audience. The measure of fragmentation is the sex, age or psychological portrait of the viewer. Very often the anime is a screened Japanese manga comic book, which also received great fame.

The basic part of the manga is designed for an adult viewer. According to data for 2002, about 20% of the entire Japanese book market was occupied by comics with manga.

Japan is close to us geographically, but despite this, for a long time remained incomprehensible and inaccessible to the whole world. Today we know a lot about this country. Long voluntary isolation led to the fact that its culture is completely different from that of other countries.