Japanese Arts & Music

Traditional Arts of Japan

The art history of Japan is a story of foreign customs refined to suit local tastes. While native art styles have existed as long as human habitation on the island, many of the archipelago’s surviving arts were imported and adapted. Buddhism, for example, arrived in the 6th century CE. The faith influenced Japan’s painting, sculpture, music, and literature. Similarly, Chinese and Korean architecture, textiles, writing, and music have all played a role in the arts of Japan. Despite these common roots, however, Japan’s arts and music are distinct and still changing today.

Japanese Literature

Japan possesses an extensive body of literature, preserved through the centuries by its relatively stable political structures. Its early texts are written in Chinese characters, which soon transformed into Japanese script. By the Heian period, c. 800 to 1200 CE, literacy was widespread among the Japanese nobility. Both women and men composed poetry, diaries, novels, dramas, and longer works. The first major novel in the world is said to be The Tale of Genji, written by a lady-in-waiting named Murasaki Shikibu in the 11th century. Classical Japanese literature values emotion, clever phrasing, and attention to form as well as the content of its story or verses.

Japanese Painting and Calligraphy

Japanese painting began with its calligraphy. Like other arts originally from China, the Japanese kept what they liked and modified the rest. Natural imagery and a careful use of color remained popular. Unlike the Chinese, however, Japan’s painters were soon fascinated by depictions of human lives, both ordinary and great. They developed a more dynamic style splashed with color, movement, and expression. Manga, later a popular form of comic books, developed from these traditions around the 12th century. By the 17th century, ukiyo-e prints could be produced on a commercial level and were widely distributed.

European contact brought an exchange of artistic ideas. While the painters of Europe collected ukiyo-e and studied Japonism, Japanese students picked up Western techniques like linear perspective and oil painting. The resulting blend has produced works along a spectrum from traditional to Western, often settling somewhere in the middle.

Japanese Architecture and Gardens

Japan is also notable for its ornamental architecture and gardens. Japanese architecture focuses on simplicity, use of space, and elegance. Buddhism again formed the basis of the islands’ traditional buildings. Temples constructed in the Chinese style evolved over time. By comparison, Japanese structures tend to use less paint and are often built on raised floors for ventilation. Their interiors are spacious and relatively free of furniture.

Many temples, shrines, houses, and public buildings in Japan are adjacent to gardens and natural spaces. These reflect ideals of both Buddhism and Shinto, which value the natural world and time spent in it. Many contain water features such as ponds, fountains, or streams. White-sand rock gardens are a common element in Zen gardens as well. Gardens are still kept by many families in Japan, even if they are confined to a windowsill or balconies. Bonsai is the art of growing trees in miniature, producing a natural looking tree at a fraction of its normal scale.

Japanese Ceramics, Sculpture, and Papercrafts

The early peoples of the islands, the Jomon, left behind highly recognizable pottery and ceramic figures. As Korean and Chinese populations migrated to Japan, they brought with them new pottery styles. Buddhism and Korea contributed an appreciation for simplicity and minimalist aesthetics. Chinese styles, on the other hand, favored more vibrant colors and painted imagery. Both schools are represented through Japanese history and in the present day. Buddhism also introduced larger sculptures, which gradually entered the secular world.

Paper, or washi, is used for a variety of purposes in Japan. Traditional wall panels were lined with paper for improved lighting, ventilation, and ease of movement. Besides its uses in painting and literature, washi can also be folded as papercrafts. Of these, origami is most prominent. Origami involves the careful folding of paper to form flowers, animals, boxes, and other appealing shapes.

Dramatic Arts of Japan

Japan’s most well known performing arts are Noh theater and kabuki drama. Noh is a centuries-old musical production, typically performed as a series of plays. Its actors depict tragedies, comedies (called kyogen), and epic tales, often with the use of masks. Kabuki developed somewhat later as a response to the formal nature of Noh. It emphasizes the skill of its actors, singers, and musicians, who are traditionally all male. Besides these major schools, there is also bunraku, a form of puppet theater.

Another famous performance art of Japan is the tea ceremony. Tea entered Japan through Buddhist monks, who in turn passed it on to the warrior nobility. The serving of tea became a display of hospitality, taste, and refinement. During the ceremony, a host or hostess prepares and serves matcha tea through a set of ritualized steps. Beyond etiquette, it is meant to encourage quiet contemplation and awareness in guests and their host.

Japanese Music and Dance

Japan’s theater represents only one aspect of its musical traditions. Its oldest surviving musical customs were adapted from Chinese court and Buddhist practices. Formal court music, gagaku, developed alongside Japanese poetry. Common people, meanwhile, composed their own songs for work, play, and celebrations. Traveling musicians and actors played to appreciative audiences across the islands. Over time, different regions specialized into their own styles of song and instruments. This genre as a whole is now called min'yō.

Among the traditional musical instruments of Japan are the koto, a type of zither; stringed shamisen; wadaiko and taiko drums; and biwa lutes. While these are some of the most popular instruments used today, the nation’s classical musicians have a wide variety of other instruments to choose from. Zithers, lutes, drums, flutes and bells are all commonly seen.

Modern Arts of Japan

Modern Japan is now a major source of international commercial art. Its native comic books merged with the styles of the United States to produce manga, a global industry. Traditional animation in both movies and television shows is called anime, often based on manga stories. The nation is also home to a large pop music industry, or J-pop, though it is less well known abroad than Korean K-pop. Besides these large industries, Japan’s artists work in all media, including painting, sculpture, film, photography, and more.

References

Brown, Delmer, Ed. The Cambridge History of Japan. 4 vols. Cambridge University Press. 1988.

Friday, Karl. Routledge Handbook of Premodern Japanese History. Taylor & Francis. 2007.

Haruo, Shirane. Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600. Columbia University Press. 2012.

Henshall, Kenneth. Springer. A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower. 2012.

Imamura, Keiji. Prehistoric Japan: New Perspectives on Insular East Asia. University of Hawaii Press. 1996.

Munsterberg, Hugo. Arts of Japan: An Illustrated History. Tuttle Publishing. 2012.

Perez, Louis G. The History of Japan. Greenwood Publishing. 1998.

Pilgrim, Richard. Buddhism and the Arts of Japan. Columbia University Press. 1999.

“The World Factbook: Japan.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 17 Oct. 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html.

Walker, Brett L. A Concise History of Japan. Cambridge University Press. 2015.

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