If we could travel around the world and visit all the wonderful museums and hands on experiences related to this course, that would not only be a fun adventure, but a great learning experience. We can

Jane Doe

A two-page essay about your experience. Remember, your header does not count to your page length requirement.

HIST 111

May 30, 2017

Virtual Museum Tour

Virtual Museum of Traditional Japanese Arts

Identify the museum you visited, the days you visited it, and where it is geographically located. (4a)

When looking through the list of museums, one under Japan caught my eye. Since one of my greatest passions is dance, I found the idea of a museum dedicated to the performing arts very interesting. I visited The Virtual Museum of Performing Arts on May 17th, 18th, and 19th. Since this is a virtual museum, it does not have a physical location. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan administers the website.

When I clicked on the website I noticed it was very straight forward and simple, which I liked. The main page was well organized and the background, colors, and pictures already gave me a feel for Japan. I noticed there were a lot of categories, in addition to the performing arts. It links to crafts, fine arts, pastime arts, martial arts, and others.

The first category I clicked on was pastime arts. There were four subcategories: flower arrangement, Tea Ceremony, calligraphy, and bonsai. The Tea Ceremony is both entertainment and a Zen Buddhist spiritual practice. A Chinese priest introduced tea to Japan in 1191, where it was used as medicine. However, Zen masters did not finalize the philosophy of the Tea Ceremony until the 15th century. Sen no Rikyu created the wabi (desolation and poverty) concept prevalent in the Tea Ceremony. The Tea Ceremony lasts four hours today. It begins with ritual purification in a garden. Guests enter the hut on their knees to symbolize their equality within the hut, eat a meal, drink a thick tea in a communal bowl, and then drink a thin tea. Next, I wanted to learn more about flower arranging. Japanese flower arrangement is called ikebana. Ikebana is different from western flower arrangements in four ways: it is asymmetrical, it uses more branches and grasses than flower, it is conscious of the surrounding space, and it incorporates the principles of ying and yan.

At least one paragraph describing the historical information, events, and/or people that were subjects of this museum. (4b)

The next category I clicked on was the fine arts. The paintings drew my attention, because they had a unique style. Ukiyo-e is a flourishing genre of painting in Japan I noticed the painting on the front page of the category was a famous ukiyo-e piece. There were eight founders of this art style. The first and main founder was Hishikawa Moronobu. He left home to study painting around 1662, and soon began illustrating books. He became a very well-known artist and was easily recognized for his unique, powerful brushstrokes and solid, dynamic figures. He set the foundation for future ukiyo-e masters for the next couple of centuries.

The next category was crafts with ceramics, swords and armor, and woodwork. The metalwork really stood out to me. A lot of the metal (bronze) was used for bronze casting Buddhist statues. Buddhism is the main Japanese religion, and this type of metal work was important.

The last category I want to discuss is dancing, of course. I learned there is a very wide diversity in Japanese traditional culture of dance. Dance was for court and religious ceremonies. They would use this to attract the favor of the deities. Today, dancers perform for entertainment in theatrical kabuki dance and festival dancing. I wish the museum had video clips of the different types of dance, in addition to text and images.

I clicked on this museum due to interest in Japanese dance, but I found the fines arts category more interesting. There were a lot of visuals in the fine arts section, but I expected the entire museum to be visually stimulating. I wanted more to look at. I wish the dance and music categories incorporated video and audio clips.

Describe your impression of the museum. (4c)

Overall I enjoyed my visit to the museum. It was easy to navigate and read. There were a lot of fun images and it had an enjoyable, simple feel to it. I would recommend this to other students who want to learn more about the Japanese arts. This culture is very interesting and I would love to learn even more about it.

Evaluate the effectiveness of the museum. (5)

Works Cited

Include a properly formatted bibliography of the museum you visited. This is in MLA format, but you may also use APA or Chicago style for Humanities.

“Virtual Museum of Japanese Arts.” The Virtual Museum of Japanese Arts. Kodansha Ltd., n.d.

Web. 20 May 2017.

Works Cited

Include a properly formatted bibliography of at least three sources. This is in APA format, but you may also use MLA or Chicago style for Humanities.

Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. (2000). The empires of the Western

Sudan: Songhai Empire. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan

Museum of Art, 2000-. Retrieved from

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sghi/hd_sghi.htm.

Campbell, M. (n.d.) Western African names: Amara. Behind the Name. Retrieved from

https://www.behindthename.com/name/amara.

Tesfu, J. (n.d.). Songhai Empire (ca. 1375-1591). Black Past. Retrieved from

http://www.blackpast.org/gah/songhai-empire-ca-1375-1591.

The Story of Africa: Songhay. (n.d.) BBC News. Retrieved from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/4chapter4.shtml.