You must cite at least one scholarly source per answer. You may reference the required readings (PDF ARTICLES) for our course or consult outside sources. Each answer must be 500-700 words and must be

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Art of Japan Midterm 2.

1. Explain the evolution of the tea ceremony regarding aesthetics, purpose, and socioeconomic status as it changed over time.

The tea ceremony in Japan involves more than the literal meaning which implies hot water for tea. This practice is a ritualized culture which entails consuming tea in a specialized space while undertaking some codified procedures. This ritual originated from China and reached Japan first between 1192 and 1333 during the Kamakura period. Zen Monks introduced this ritual before developing to become a ceremony since they had to drink tea to be active as the experienced long meditation sessions1. As the practice continued, the Zen Monks acknowledged it as a ritual that aided honouring the first patriarch regarded as Bodhidharma. During the 15th century, this ritual developed further to involve many friends who catered to drink and discuss the significance of aesthetics and their socio-economic impacts in society2. All gatherings were done in an isolated place since monks and their respective friends held that aesthetics would later turn to benefit them even before extending its discussion to entire Japan.

The tea ceremony is known to have emerged in the sixteenth century even though the process of its evolution started way around 12th century3. After completely turning to be a ceremony, the event turned to be an elite artistic pursuit that offered an opportunity for the Japanese rulers, the warriors, and wealthy merchants to make social ties that would, in turn, promote the formation of aesthetics. The ancient ceramics from China became the first aesthetic to be acknowledged during the initial tea ceremony after they were handed over to Japanese for generations. One key reason that led to acknowledgement of this object was that it was imbued with the potency of age and Japanese sought to borrow Chinese culture believing since they were the key influencers of Japanese culture among other societies across the world.

From the tea ceremonies conducted in Japan, the use of aesthetics was noted to be tools of introducing and establishing cultures and not for decorations as they are regarded by many artists. For instance, large jars were shaped using coiling bands of clay instead of using potter’s wheel since the thematic concern was to reflect on the cultural provisions borrowed from China4. However, the practitioners of those aesthetics sought to portray that the cultures borrowed had low value considering that they applied less valuable items such as ash glazes as they formed the aesthetics which were regarded to originate from china.

Further, the establishment of tea ceremony in Japan introduced the creation of new wares like Oribe and Shino. The values of these wares also depended on the practitioners of the respective aesthetics. For instance, the notion of wabi was significant in understanding the value placed on every ware regardless of whether those materials could easily be noticed or not. Despite reflecting the values of given cultures and norms that Japanese decided to hold or not, tea ceremony being a codified ceremony organised the groups into a style such as wabi-cha which implied roughness and simplicity5. The aspect still reflected the high value of aesthetics which could possibly be disregarded by adopting unexamined cultures. Therefore, it was notable that tea ceremony in Japan was ritualized to assign values to different cultures as the country sought to adopt those with high values while disregarding the rest.

Source:

Wilson, Daniel. "The Japanese Tea Ceremony and Pancultural Definitions of Art." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 76, no. 1 (2018), 33-44. doi:10.1111/jaac.12436.

1. What differentiates the Rinpa School of painting from the Kano school of painting? Be sure to address class and intended audience, style and format, and the artists’ training and cultural background.

The Japanese painting schools differed in some ways despite sharing various similarities posed by the Japanese cultures. One key difference between kano and Rinpa painting schools is the period when they were established and the artworks that each of them focused on during those times. The latter was a crucial part of the Edo period whose focus was reviving the indigenous Japanese artistic interests. Hence, the artists in this school decorated the artistic works such as paintings, textiles, and ceramics using attractive colours and following luring patterns which portrayed favoured thematic concerns6. Kano painting school was considered the most influential one among the Japanese schools with over 3 centuries of prominence which marks uniqueness in the context of art history. The prominence of this Japanese school made the secular painters to succeed in attracting several patrons from Japanese affluent social classes which, in turn, promoted its popularity and extended its art history for longer times than its Rinpa counterpart. This essay examines the difference in Rinpa and Kano painting schools considering the format, style, and artists training and cultural backgrounds.

Kano Masanobu who lived between 1434 and 1530 takes credit for establishing the Kano painting school7. He was a professional artist who was closely associated with Zen temple because of its influential power even though he was not a Zen adherent. Further, his adoption of Chinese painting culture enabled Kano school to become more popular than others since this artistic history was attributed to Chinese. The style of painting associated with Masanobu’s establishments were imported with the philosophy and values of Zen and this feature made the paintings to focus on brushwork, ink, and no application of pigments8. Also, with these features, the paintings from Kano school took advantage of the growing relationship between Zen Monks and Ashikaga shoguns and this aspect characterized the paintings with cultural and religious values. Consequently, due to high cultural and religious beliefs of the military rulers then, Masanobu succeeded in maintaining the favour of military rulers during that period.

On the other hand, two key participants in the establishment of Rinpa painting school were Hon’ami Koetsu and Tawaraya Sotatsu who lived between 1558 and 1637 and up to 1640 respectively. These two artists were upper-class merchants who graduated from Kyoto, a group that was referred to machishu9. One key difference between this painting school and Kano was that the former’s artists allied themselves to culturally influential nobility without focus on religious values while its latter counterpart focused on both cultural and religious values which enabled it to successfully draw the attention of the Military rulers who dominated Japan during its period. Also, Rinpa focused on surface decoration as its new stylization which Kano painting school did not focus on much considering its objectives of reaching the rulers of the country.

Another key difference between Rinpa and Kano painting schools in Japan is that the former was a bit misnomer while the latter was not10. Rinpa’s artists worked in a certain style but they failed to form an organized hereditary school which would boost the popularity of the school. Kano focused on using diverse artists who would possibly convince the rulers then and, in turn, improve the school’s popularity.

Sources:

Okamoto, Naomi. The Art of Sumi-E: Beautiful Ink Painting Using Japanese Brushwork. Search Press(UK), 2015.

Thompson, Kay M. The Art and Technique of Sumi-e Japanese Ink Painting: Japanese Ink Painting as Taught by Ukao Uchiyama. North Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing, 2012.

1. How does cultural production during the Edo period differ from that of the Momoyama period? Why? How does this relate to ukiyo-e and the floating world?

The two periods, Edo and Momoyama differed with cultural productions in various ways which were based on painting schools and artists’ approaches in production. To examine the difference between these two periods, it is important to first identify those periods and the associated features between them. Momoyama period was a brief span when unifying the leaders from warring province and those of the central government too place11. The dating period of during this era is as relative as the name but the initial dates are regarded to be when Nobunaga entered Kyoto in the mid-16th century. The period ended around 1600 upon the establishment of Leyasu’s victory at Sekigahara. Edo period is dated between 1603 and 1867 when Edo was chosen to be the first new capital of Japan. This period is also considered to be the final period of the traditions that prevailed in Japan such as political instability, economic issues, and lack of peace under shogunate leadership.

One key difference in the cultural production between Edo period and Momoyama period is their objective in productions. The former focused on the achievement of hegemony over the entire Japan which led to balancing of power of hostile domains while the latter focused on Toyotomi family which was regarded as a representative of the cultural values in Japan during its period12. For example, in the early years of Edo period, Tokugawa policies had not been felt implying that the objective of production had not been explored fully. Some Japanese finest expressions in production was only achieved because of Rinpa painting school and no other production was possible. Also, during the Edo period, cultural production involved the application of various formats such as screen fans, hanging scrolls, and ceramics.

On the other hand, the Momoyama period focused on painting and ceramics which were different in some ways with those of Edu period. Painting during this era was a visual art form that provided varied opportunities in a notable context of achievement among the Momoyama period artists. There is a rigid line that previously defined the painting styles which commenced from Muromachi period and extended to Momoyama13. For example, Kano school which was renowned to be a contributor of productions during this period focused on two styles that were known for featuring bright and the other one focusing on opaque colours. Therefore, the cultural production during Momoyama period focused on diverse views and attitudes of the people compared to the cultural production in Edo period which focused literally on the rise of a popular culture during that period as opposed to what people’s perspectives of art14. Concerning the aspect of ukiyo-e, cultural production in Edo period made woodblock prints of its type which became a primary form of art during the entire period. The techniques in Edo period fine-tuned ukiyo-e to form colourful prints of all aspects that dominated during that time.

Sources:

Maske, Andrew L. Potters and Patrons in Edo Period Japan: Takatori Ware and the Kuroda Domain. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2011.

EXTRA CREDIT (UP TO 5%) Using one art object as an example, describe the concept of bushido.

The concept of Bushido encompassed the code of conduct for Japanese warrior classes since 8th century until the modern era. The word bushido implies warrior based on courageous decisions honour, and courage among other values that depicts being a master in a given context15. The prince shotoku statue reflects courageous acts as Shitoku was considered legendary is his bid to introduce Buddhism in Japan.

Prince Shotoku Statue artwork signifies the introduction of Buddhism sects in Japan with various changes that benefited the residence in many ways through Heian period. This artwork notes that Buddhism sects changed the political structure in Japan considering the imperial favor introduced by this sect. Further, considering how Shinto presented itself in a manner that Japanese could readily observe in their social life and in their personal motivations instead of focusing on the pattern or formality of belief or religious philosophy during the Nara period. The formation of this religious beliefs disregarded formality to allow everyone among the Japanese to determine how they would like to worship and ensure that it did not involve much rules as other formal religious philosophies that were noted in other including northeastern India16. Also, in ancient times towards Nara period, small states were in a process of being formed in different regions in Japan.

Despite not being practical in Japan in the middle of the 4th century, a nation having an ancestor of current imperial household had been formed. Therefore, Shitoku considered it appropriate to involve itself as a religion with imperial sponsorship to satisfy the demands of many people knowing that they would also reach the extents of imperial household with that trend, an in turn, moving its values to Nara period17. Therefore, Shitoku reflected courageous and legendary acts that is signifies Bushido concept in Japan.

Source

Durlabhji, Subhash, Norton E. Marks, and Scott Roach. Japanese Business: Cultural Perspectives. Albany: SUNY Press, 1993.

1 Daniel Wilson, "The Japanese Tea Ceremony and Pancultural Definitions of Art," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 76, no. 1 (2018)

2 Daniel Wilson, "The Japanese Tea Ceremony and Pancultural Definitions of Art," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 76, no. 1 (2018)

3 Daniel Wilson, "The Japanese Tea Ceremony and Pancultural Definitions of Art," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 76, no. 1 (2018)

4 Daniel Wilson, "The Japanese Tea Ceremony and Pancultural Definitions of Art," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 76, no. 1 (2018)

5 Daniel Wilson, "The Japanese Tea Ceremony and Pancultural Definitions of Art," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 76, no. 1 (2018)

6 Naomi Okamoto, The Art of Sumi-E: Beautiful Ink Painting Using Japanese Brushwork (Search Press(UK), 2015)

7 Naomi Okamoto, The Art of Sumi-E: Beautiful Ink Painting Using Japanese Brushwork (Search Press(UK), 2015)

8 Naomi Okamoto, The Art of Sumi-E: Beautiful Ink Painting Using Japanese Brushwork (Search Press(UK), 2015)

9 Kay M. Thompson, The Art and Technique of Sumi-e Japanese Ink Painting: Japanese Ink Painting as Taught by Ukao Uchiyama (North Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing, 2012)

10 Kay M. Thompson, The Art and Technique of Sumi-e Japanese Ink Painting: Japanese Ink Painting as Taught by Ukao Uchiyama (North Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing, 2012)

11 Andrew L. Maske, Potters and Patrons in Edo Period Japan: Takatori Ware and the Kuroda Domain (Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2011)

12 Andrew L. Maske, Potters and Patrons in Edo Period Japan: Takatori Ware and the Kuroda Domain (Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2011)

13 Andrew L. Maske, Potters and Patrons in Edo Period Japan: Takatori Ware and the Kuroda Domain (Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2011)

14 Andrew L. Maske, Potters and Patrons in Edo Period Japan: Takatori Ware and the Kuroda Domain (Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2011)

15 "Japanese business: cultural perspectives," Choice Reviews Online 30, no. 09 (1993)

16 "Japanese business: cultural perspectives," Choice Reviews Online 30, no. 09 (1993)

17 "Japanese business: cultural perspectives," Choice Reviews Online 30, no. 09 (1993)