Period Name Purpose or meaning Or facts Artist and About Artist

Joumon Period Doguu Figurines Their purpose remains a Unknown

mystery!
(縄文時代)

Mostly nomadic people.

• Objects such as pots
were both useful and
beautiful.
• All pots were made by
hand– no pottery wheel
yet!

Yayoi Period Doutaku Bells Metal objects were first Unknown

imported from Korea and
China and then made locally.
弥生時代 • The shape of the dōtaku
(c. 300 BCE-300 CE) bells (銅鐸) come from a
• New agricultural culture Chinese style of bell from
• Named for archeological several hundred years
site earlier
near Tokyo 弥生
• Yayoi is distinguished
from
Jōmon by:
• Manufacture of bronze
and iron objects,
• Cultivation of rice
• Large, settled
communities
Kofun Period 300-600 CE Haniwa On these tombs were often Unknown
古墳 “Tumulus” placed the haniwa
This is the earliest period • It is thought that the tomb
of recorded history for of Nintoku may have had
Japan. over 20,000!
• Continued influence of • They come in different
China and Korean shapes and styles.
peninsula seen in the • Typically, one shaped like a
“keyhole” shaped tombs house would be placed over
• Some archaeologists the body,
believe it was one culture and then others distributed
across the Korean around the mound.
peninsula, parts of Kyūshū
and Honshū. HANIWA purpose:
• There have also been Substitute for live burial of
excavations of Japanese family members of the
artifacts in Korean tombs deceased.
that show that there was To help prevent erosion.
exchange between Korea To separate the world of the
and Japan dead from the world of the
living.
To protect the deceased and
help their spirits feel
comfortable.
Asuka Period (552-645) “Tori Busshi” is only artist
and Hakuhō Period (645- Buddhism comes to Japan of Asuka period whose
710) from Korea, c. 6th century. It name, genealogy and work
was Introduced to Yamato is preserved.
The name “Asuka” 飛鳥時 court in 552 by the Paekche
代 refers to a valley where (百済)embassy.
Hōryūji 法隆寺
the Yamato people lived,
south of Nara. The Prince Shōtoku Taishi (574-
imperial court often 622) was a leading figure in One of the first great
resided there. the adoption and temple complexes built
transformation of Buddhism after the civil war of 587.
in Japan into a recognized • Founded by Prince
The Hakuhō period 白鳳時
religion. Shōtoku in 607.
代 begins after major Semi-legendary: while he • In 670 several buildings
reforms of 645 to further Yumedono Kannon by Tori Busshi existed, many fantastic burn
centralize the government stories are attributed to him.
and put control of the
country under the imperial It is said that when he was
clan two years old, he turned to
the east and chanted the
Nara Period 710-794 name of the Buddha.

The capital moves to

present-day Nara in 710.
夢殿 “Hall of Dreams”, Comissioned 739
• Japan adopted Chinese
system of government.
• Established a nationwide
system of Buddhist
religious centers.
• Used Buddhism for
creating national policy.
Heian Period Courtly Culture The artist is unknown still!
(794-1185) 皇居の文化 Pigments on paper,
originally would have been
• The focus of the imperial
MovingthecapitaltoHeian over 450 feet long.
• Heian 平安 “Capital of court became aesthetics 美
Peace 学 (concerned with beauty Genji monogatari, written
and Tranquility” in the early 11th century,
and artistic taste)
• Modeled on Chinese in present form by 1021.
capital • Written by Murasaki
Shinden Architecture 寝殿 Shikibu (not her real name)
of Chang’an ⻑安 Kashiwagi III (The Oak Tree III), from Genji
造 • Some consider it the
monogatari emaki (The Tale of Genji Scroll) c. 1120-
• Geomancy (土占い): • Creating a distinctly world’s first novel
1140
arranging places or “Japanese” style of
buildings in an auspicious architecture (less influenced Yamato-e
Without expressive facial features, scholars rely on
manner. by China) 大和絵 used to refer to
characteristics of the composition (構図) to help us
• Flanked on three sides by • Large, open rooms that paintings with Japanese
understand what is happening in the painting. can be divided temporarily.
mountains and bordered subject matter, including
by two rivers: Kamo and stories.
Genji is uncomfortable with the situation.
Katsura. Jūnihitoe 十二単 Twelve-
This is suggested by putting him in an awkward
• Will remain capital until layered robe Colorful, built-up color
place in the composition.
(tsukuri-e)
1868
• Simple, abbreviated
Emakimono 絵巻物“picture scroll,” a narrative Kariginu 狩衣 Informal
faces
painting format using horizontal handscrolls. hunting robe (hikime kagihana)
• Only four emakimono fragments from the Late
Heian period have survived.
Kamakura Period Heiji monogatari emaki : “You read a handscroll
平治物語絵巻 from right to left. Typically No information about the
you would be holding an artist or patron, even
Kamakura Period (1185- • Heiji Rebellion (Heiji no ran 平治の乱) of 1159-60 expanse just what you can though it is considered one
1333) hold right in front of you of the finest examples of
• Change in power from between your two hands as Japanese narrative
the court to the military the viewer controlling it.” illustration.
• Two important clans:
This was brought to the US Materialityishowart'smater
Taira (平) and Minamoto
by Ernest Fenollosa and ial qualities are sensed,
(源) Stories from these various battles became known as Charles Goddard Weld, interpreted and
• 1185: Minamoto defeat where it has been part of understood.
gunki monogatari (軍記物語 war tales)
Taira at Dannoura the MFA, Boston collection
• This section is known as “Night Attack on Sanjō since 1889 Thesepaintingsaren’tjustim
Palace agesona screen, but
The Kamakura Period,
which followed a period of Only three fragments physical objects that you
many battles and remain. could touch and move
hardships, was known for
artwork which shows a
sense of realism.

The Priest Chōgen

early 13th century Wood, with paint 82.2 cm tall
Muromachi Period 室町時 Ryōanji 竜安寺 Gardens and attaining Zen Buddhism 禅
Located in northwestern Kyoto, Zen Buddhist enlightenment Zen means “meditation”
代 (1336-1573)
temple. Established around 1450. • “cultivating” oneself • Goal is a deep awareness
• The garden becomes the focus of meditation. • ”the act of paying of truth, to be reached
• Part of the Abbot’s private quarters, garden attention takes us out of our through
One of the most important everyday lives.”
influence on art during the measures roughly 248 square meters (2,670 square • Zazen 座禅, seated
Muromachi Period was the feet). mediation
introduction of Zen Karesansui 枯山水 dry landscape
Expression of Japanese
Buddhism 禅宗. Aesthetics
• Zen Buddhism was • Refined space, grey stones
introduced to Japan from • Enhancing natural
China (Chan Buddhism) at qualities
the end of the 12th • “Beauty in what is worn,
century. what is aged
• Zen was such a strong “Not see a perfect view of
influence, that both the mountain, but have it
secular and religious obscured by the mist”
artworks have similar • ”Appreciation for the
Wabi 佗
characteristics. incomplete”
An aesthetic or style that
• Secular: 世俗美術
developed from Zen.
• Religious: 宗教美術
• Zen Buddhism influenced Often paired with sabi 寂–
painting, but also arts such an idea of detachment and
as tea ceremony and tranquility.
garden design
Momoyama Period (1573- Kano School 狩野派 Kanō Naizen (狩野 内膳,
1615), aka Azuchi- 1570–1616) was a part of
Kano Eitoku: Chinese Lions,
Momoyama the Japanese family of
1582 Patron: Hideyoshi painters, the Kanō school.
Oda Nobunaga (1534- He was the middle son of
school's head Kanō
1582), son of a minor
Eitoku, younger brother to
vassal, rises to the Kano school
prominence. heir Kanō Mitsunobu,
Kanō Naizen
• 1568, Nobunaga’s army Developed a bold “blue-and- gold” older brother to Kanō
Nanban Screens (Left-hand screen), 1598 – 1615
marches on Kyoto, five style that appealed to the daimyo. Takanobu, and adopted
Color and gold leaf on paper • Large-scale and dramatic
years later chases last of brother to the famed
• Made by Kano Eitoku for Toyotomi
the Ashikaga shoguns out. Hideyoshi to gift to another feudal lord Kanō school painter Kanō
Major artistic school becomes the Kano School. . Sanraku.
Kano school had risen to fame during the
Momoyama Painting:
Muromachi period Kano Eitoku, Cypress, 1590.
Large-scale, powerful
under Kano Masanobu (1434-1530)
works complement the
new architecture and the During the Momoyama period, they were the major
new power of the daimyo. painting school serving daimyo and other vassals.

First castles built in the late Muromachi period.

• Solid, strong forms against a
The Himeji Castle is an example backdrop of gold
Originally a fusuma for the mansion of
Prince Hachijō Toshihito.
• Now remade into a byōbu.
• Made during the latter part of his life.
Unclear if it was
painted by Eitoku or a pupil
Edo Period (1615- 1868) The artist, Katsushika
Ukiyo-e 浮世絵 Hokusai (1760-1849), was
Toyotomi Hideyoshi dies in 1598, a well- known ukiyo-e
leaving behind a five year old son. It
artist.
is not clear who will succeed him.
Ukiyo-e 浮世絵 or “pictures
Ieyasu moves his center of power to • One of the reasons for
Edo. of the floating world,” the series may have been
• 1605 Ieyasu retires, passing
position of shogun to his adult son included both prints 版画 an interest in travel.
Hidetada. • It was so popular that
and paintings 絵画。 the publisher, Nishimuraya
“Neo- Confucian” (朱子学) • 憂世-world of grief, Yohachi (Eijudō), asked for
society . sadness ten more designs. So there
• Society structured with are actually 46!
• 浮世-floating world
distinct classes such as • We do not know how
• While paintings might be many impressions (sheets)
warriors, farmers, artisans, specially-created artworks
and merchants. were printed, but some
Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa for wealthy people, the experts believe it could be
• Rise of chōnin culture (町 prints were inexpensive and
(Kanagawa-oki nami-ura), from the series Thirty-six around 8,000 impressions
人) an urban commoner Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei), 1830-31 affordable for many people. of each design!
class.
The Ukiyo-e “Quartet” Unlike most of the art we
• Prints were made not just by one person, but by a have studied so far, these
artworks were made not for
collaboration between many skilled artists and
• National policy of artisans. Each contributed something to the powerful warriors or It was made using Prussian
artwork. religious purposes, but for Blue: synthetic pigment ベ
exclusion, “closed country”
• Artist: designs the image, usually provides a sketch average, everyday people.:
鎖国 begins 1633 ロリン藍 or ベロ藍
• Carver: carves the wooden blocks based on the Beautiful women/people (美
• Printer: applies pigment to the wooden blocks and
人)
Japonisme and the 19th prints the image onto paper.
century: Japanese art and • Publisher: coordinates the process, hires the other • Kabuki actors (歌舞伎 役
design became very people, takes financial responsibility. 者絵)
popular. Scholars and
• famous places (名所)
collectors wrote about
these artworks to educate
others.
Meiji Period The latter's greatest in- Kuroda Seiki (1866–1924),
fluence on Kuroda was to Asai Chữs rival, came from
1868 –1912 introduce him to the light, a background similar to
bright Asai's, born into a samurai
The Meiji era was the colors used by the French family. However, at the age
first half of the Empire Impressionist school. of four he was adopted by
Raphael Collin was not his uncle, Kuroda
of Japan, when the
actually an Impressionist. He Kiyotsuna, a major figure
Japanese people used the Impressionists' in the Meiji Res-
moved from being an lighter palette, but his plein- toration, and was groomed
isolated feudal air realism did to play an important role
society at risk of not follow the in politics. In 1884 he was
Kuroda Seiki, Morning Toilette, 1893 Impressionists' theories sent to Paris to study law,
colonization
about natural light but through the
by Western powers to The most controversial and also the most accom- and the use of color. intervention of Yamamoto
the new paradigm of a plished painting produced during Kuroda's stay in However, the young Hösui, he was di- verted
modern, France is his Morning Toilet of 1893 (fig. 350). It generation of while there to a career as a
depicts a nude Western woman standing in front of
industrialized nation Japanese painters of the yöga painter. To this
a mirror as she gath-
state and 1890s influenced by him- end he studied with
largely through Kuroda Raphael Collin (1850-19l6),
emergent great power,
influenced ers her long hair into a single strand prior to winding Seiki's work-understood that an artist noted for his
by Western scientific, it into a chignon. The painting was first shown in style to be paintings of nudes and also
Paris at the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, where Impressionism, unaware of large-scale fig- ural
technological, it won ac- claim for the artist. After Kuroda's return that this was not the core of works for public
philosophical, political, to Japan it was exhibited again and became the French Impressionism. commissions.
legal, and aesthetic subject of much contro- versy.
ideas.
Taisho and Showa Period Gutai: Splendid Playground Kazuo Shiraga’s “Work II” (1958), During World War II, control In Yoshihara’s Please Draw
over artistic expression in Freely (1956), viewers
The Taishō era (大 Japan was strict. Military became artists. Adults and
正, Taishō) was a period rule permitted only children were presented
in the history of paintings that glorified the with a board and markers
Japan dating from 30 July war effort, and art supplies and invited to add their
1912 to 25 December were difficult to obtain. own creative marks.
1926, Gutai arose from this According to Ming Tiampo,
context, and in opposition to co- curator of this
The Shōwa era (昭
painted with his feet, is part of this show about Gutai, the it. In the postwar years, exhibition, Yoshihara’s
和, Shōwa) was the postwar Japanese movement, at the Guggenheim. Gutai emphasized the work “embraced the
period of Japanese Yoshihara Jirō
history corresponding to importance of originality. possibilities of collective
the reign of Emperor Founded by Yoshihara Jiro creativity, broke down the
Shōwa(commonly known (1905–1972), a wealthy hierarchy between artist
in English as Emperor industrialist and self-taught and audience, and
Hirohito) from December artist, Gutai embraced harnessed the creativity of
25, 1926, until his death Yoshihara’s axiom, “Do what children.”
on January 7, 1989 has never been done
before!”

Please Draw Freely, 1956

Miss KO2, 1997 Murakami Takashi
Contemporary Art • Bigger than life-sized statue (182.9 by 63.5 by 82.6 cm) Superflat Born 1962, Tokyo
• Uses popular culture standards of beauty
• These features at a life-sized scale become almost ridiculous. • No sense of depth
 • Multiples made– the commodification of the female body. • Large, flat areas of color • Attended Tokyo geijutsu
Contemporary Art daigaku
• Majored in nihonga, also
Contemporary art is has a PhD • Interested in
literally the “art of today.” manga and illustration
• Normally this means What are arhats?
works made in the current • Arhats are sages and Influenced by manga and
time by living disciples of the historical anime
artists. Buddha. • But also uses it as
• It does NOT refer to a 500 Arhats
• They have achieved a high method of social criticism
specific style, school, or level of Enlightenment, and and satire
even materials! are often depicted as monks
Pop Art: Jeff Koons, or with extraordinary Murakami is trained in
Balloon Dog, 2022 powers. nihonga and his paintings
Conceptual Art: Ai Wei • Paintings of them were are often inspired by
Wei, Seeds, 2010 popular in China and Japan. Japanese painting tradition
Performance Art: Marina
Abramović, The Artist is Kano Kazunobu (1816-1863)
Present, 2010 • Murakami was inspired by
• Made by Murakami in response to both discussions about Tsuji’s writings on Kano
art history with the scholar Tsuji Nobuo and the 2011 Tōhōku Kazunobu’s 500 Arhats
earthquake and tsunami.
paintings, which featured
• Uses a Buddhist theme of 500 arhats (rakan) 羅漢
100 scrolls including all 500
• Over 100 meters long!
arhats.
It is divided into four sections • Blue Dragon (East) • The artwork was
• White Tiger (West) commissioned by Zōjōji
• Black Tortoise (North) temple of Edo.
• Vermillion Bird (South)
• Includes 500 arhats, and was completed by using a studio
system where Murakami worked with over 300 assistants and
staff for over one year to create the massive work.