Arts of Japan: Evolution through Foreign Influence (Illustrated Feature)

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Last Friday, Maria and I were able to visit the Arts of Japan tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had to navigate ourselves through the museum to the Asian Art section and made it just before our tour guide, Sakura Mitarai, opened the doors revealing the dim-lit, quiet Arts of Japan gallery. Matarai explained how Japanese art evolved from the 12^th century to present day because of the influence of foreign countries like India, China, and the United States. Through a matter of eleven rooms, Japanese art changed from sculptures of Buddha to colorful artwork of everyday life.

The start of the exhibit showed how even the earliest stages of Japanese art were influenced by outsiders. Buddhism, which originated in India around 500 B.C., eventually traveled to China and Japan about a century later and dominated the subject of Japanese art. The esoteric sect of Buddhism was the main form that was transferred over to Japan and is shown in the Dainichi Nyorai in the 12^th century. The Dainichi Nyorai is a wooden sculpture of the most supreme Buddha, sitting on a lotus pedal, meditating and looking towards his inner self. He sits on the pedestal making a mudra, or hand gesture symbolizing the unity between the sacred world and the natural world. During this period in time, the Japanese felt that the topic of Buddha was the most important issue that they had to reveal in their art. Because of this, the Dainichi Nyorai was made with great precision and in different parts, to prevent cracking in the wood. So even in some of their earliest works Japanese artists used the ideas passed by some of its neighboring countries (Mitarai).

Another work of art that was influenced by the Chinese was Landscape of the Four Seasons, made during the 16^th century by Kano Chakichi. The Chinese made landscape scrolls in which the mind would travel through nature in time and space. The humans in the actual painting are purposely made small to show their insignificance as opposed to nature. The Japanese adopted this same idea but displayed it on a bigger horizontal screen. As Matarai described, the painting shows the four seasons from right to left as a landscape of the mind. This painting showed the simplicity of the Japanese because of the lack of color use. Almost the whole painting is done completely in black ink. Another part of Japanese culture that showed simplicity was the shoins. These were Japanese rooms that were originally used in temples to study but were soon put in the homes of the wealthy lords as well. The rooms were simple because they had no furniture or painting inside it because the Japanese wanted natural colors and grains. The tatami mats in the room were rectangular mats that would turn green when fresh. These mats continued their pattern when a sliding door was open as to make the shoin seem like one big room rather than 2 separate rooms. With the simple black ink paintings and the shoins, Japanese art was clearly influenced by countries like China, but their art was still kept very simple (Mitarai).

Clearly in earlier times, Japanese art was already very influenced by other nations, but it didn’t drastically change because all of these nations were geographically close to Japan and produced somewhat similar art. This changed, however, when the Japanese met people from the Americas. The Westerners brought new traditions and colorful clothing to Japan. Toyohara Chikanobu’s paintings, Court Ladies Making Western Clothing, Nobility in the Evening Cool, A Mirror of Japanese Nobility, and A Garden Washed by Rain, all depict the same views they had about Westerners and the influence they had on Japanese traditions. The way the paintings were made was the first difference from the old traditional ways. Chikanobu made these paintings with very bright colors, contrasting with how the Landscape of the Four Seasons was made with only black ink. His paintings also depicted Japanese men and women wearing the same clothing as westerners. There were even American-style dresses made from kimonos. The architecture depicted in the backgrounds of these paintings was also different compared to the architecture of the shoin rooms. His paintings depicted Western-looking houses with colorful decorations, couches and other types of furniture inside the homes. This contrasted with the traditional views of the shoin rooms where there was no furniture and everything was natural looking. The Western influence, as opposed to Indian or Chinese influence, was what made the biggest change in Japanese culture and art (Mitarai).

The arts of Japan exhibit proved to be quite fascinating, showing the walking timeline of artistic pieces that evolved over time through foreign influence. What appeals the most to the viewers is the drastic change, over a couple hundred years, in the type of art: from simple, religious work influenced by neighboring India and China to colorful pieces depicting Americans and their influence. Even though the more modern pieces are what are known today, it is the traditional, simple, religious paintings that will forever leave its mark on Japanese art and culture.