Life Tips & Miscellaneous Travel and History Zen Philosophy and History Art and Sport Navigation of this blog
Differences between Japanese and Western paintings
It is said that Western art is “painting with paint” while Japanese painting is “painting with lines. This is in contrast to oil paintings, which are often used in Western art, where the paintings themselves are uneven because they are painted in layers of paint, which is also an object of appreciation,
Japanese-style paintings do not have such a tendency. Instead, they are drawn with lines, as in ink and wash paintings, and even the slightest misalignment will result in a failure. Therefore, there is a tension in the lines, and feeling that tension is also important in the appreciation of Japanese painting.
In addition, natural paints such as sumi ink and mineral pigments are sensitive to light and easily discolor, so they are often displayed for a limited number of days compared to exhibitions of Western-style paintings.
Such discoloration and blotches are seen as the charm of Japanese painting, and are regarded as the “flavor” of the work. In this article, I will discuss this Japanese painting.
What is Japanese Painting?
The term nihonga has been interpreted in two ways. The general interpretation is “paintings created using traditional Japanese painting materials and techniques,” and in a narrower sense, it refers to paintings of the Kano as described in “Hasegawa Tohaku and the Kano school succeeding Sesshu“, Tosa, Rimpa as described in “Sotatsu Tawaraya, Korin Ogata – Timeless designs based on unique compositional skills“, and Nanga schools from the Edo period onward.
The concept of nihonga was actually born after the Meiji period (1868-1912), when Western painting techniques such as oil painting were introduced to Japan, and the term “nihonga” came to be used to distinguish traditional painting from Western painting.
It is said that it was Fenollosa, an Oriental art historian, who coined the term nihonga, translating the term “Japanese painting” that he used.
The term nihonga was first coined in the Meiji period (1868-1912), but the history of nihonga techniques dates back to the Heian period (794-1192). During the Heian period, through exchanges with China such as the Japanese envoys to the Tang Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty, there were two types of paintings: those based on Chinese culture, known as karae, and those based on Japanese customs and stories, known as yamato-e.
Among these, various Yamato-e works were produced, such as “Tsukiji-e,” which depicted scenes from January to December on folding screens and fans, and “Meisho-e,” which depicted scenes of famous places in Japan, and developed as one of the techniques of Japanese-style painting.
Incidentally, the Tosa school, famous for establishing the Yamato-e tradition, was born around the 14th century. The Tosa school was founded by Fujiwara no Yukimitsu in the 14th century during the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and for as long as 200 years after its birth, the school followed the Yamato-e tradition, succeeding the imperial court’s painting offices, and especially during the period of Tosa Mitsunobu, it had close relationships with the court and shogunate, and reached its peak. At the end of the Muromachi period (1336-1573), Tosa Mitsumoto, a grandson of Mitsunobu, was killed in an attack on Tajima, and he lost his position as the head of the Tosa school.
As a separate tradition from Yamato-e, Song and Yuan paintings, including ink and wash paintings called “Han-ga” were introduced from China during the late Heian and Kamakura periods.
This trend led to Zen paintings that were connected to the teachings of Zen as described in “Zen and Art.
From this period onward, what had previously been called karae (Chinese painting) became collectively known as yamato-e (Yamato-e) and also called “waga” (Japanese painting).
In the Muromachi period (1333-1573), the Kano school, the largest painting school in the history of Japanese painting, was born. The Kano school developed by adopting the techniques of Yamato-e, while at the same time following the flow of Chinese painting, and became a specialized group of painters active for as long as 400 years, until the end of the Edo period. Paintings of the Kano school were often incorporated into the interior decoration of historical buildings, and many of their works are still in existence today.
The Kano school of painting employed traditional Japanese themes and compositions to create works that conformed to the values and aesthetic sensibilities of the court and samurai families. In addition, Chinese painting ink was used to bring depth and unique texture to the paintings by utilizing brush strokes and ink shading, and gold and silver leaf were widely used to create works of extravagant brilliance and beauty.
Another famous school that emerged around the same time as the Kano school is the Rimpa school, founded by Honami Koetsu and Tawaraya Sotatsu, developed by Ogata Korin and Kenzan, and established in Edo by Sakai Hoitsu and Suzuki Kiichi. The Rimpa school had no hereditary system and there were no status restrictions, which led to the development of a free style of painting, and many innovative yet delicate works were created by using both Yamato-e and Chinese painting techniques. For more information on Sotatsu Tawaraya and Korin Ogata, see “Sotatsu Tawaraya, Korin Ogata – Timeless Designs Based on Unique Composition.
The Tosa school, which originated as a school of Yamato-e, declined for a time with the rise of the Kano school, but flourished again in the Edo period. It branched off from the Tosa school to become the Sumiyoshi-ha. The Sumiyoshi-ha was also influenced by the Kano and Rimpa schools.
During the Edo period, Ukiyo-e also became established as a genre, as described in “Ukiyo-e and New Prints: The Onmyochishin of the Art World.
With the importation of Western paintings in the Meiji period (1868-1912), Chinese and Japanese paintings, which had been painted in Japan until then, came to be referred to collectively as Nihonga (Japanese-style painting), and by this time, Nihonga had developed significantly as more painters adopted Western techniques within traditional Japanese painting methods.
Painting and Japanese calligraphy
One of the manifestations of the beauty of the tense line in Japanese painting is “Japanese-style calligraphy,” or writing with a Japanese brush.
The history of Japanese calligraphy begins with Buddhist copying activities in ancient Japan under Chinese influence. During the Nara Period (710 – 794), many Buddhist scriptures were written and the art of copying developed, and during the Heian Period (794 – 1185), court culture flourished in Heian-kyo, where beautiful calligraphy containing unique kana script played an important role.
These characters were broken from their completed forms, and movement was added to the characters, which was considered “imamekashii” (modern style) in the language of the time, and the form itself became an expression of the sensibility of the person who wrote the calligraphy.
In the Muromachi period (1336-1573), calligraphy flourished under the influence of Zen Buddhism, with Zen monks expressing the spirit of Zen through calligraphy, and calligraphy came to have an artistic aspect.
Art was also created that combined paintings and books, such as the “Four Seasons Flower Underpainting Waka Scroll” by Hon’ami Koetsu.
In the modern era, Western culture was introduced to Japan, and while calligraphy declined, some calligraphers sought new styles and approaches, and in modern Japan, calligraphy became a part of artistic and personal expression and a representative element of Japanese culture that is widely appreciated both at home and abroad.
コメント