Skill in pottery has been an important defining aspect of Japanese culture from earliest time
Japan
The origin of the dōtaku is thought to be the Chinese cattle bell.
Dōtaku (ritual bells)
“Five Beautiful Women,” by Katsushika Hokusai depicts women of different social backgrounds. Painted on silk, the work prompts the viewer to consider clothing and its relationship to identity. Discover more about Hokusai from Amada Cruz, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO of the Seattle Art Museum.
Five Beautiful Women by Katsushika Hokusai
Monju was a bodhisattva popular among Zen Buddhists, and he is here painted by a Zen monk-painter
Kichizan Minchō, Monju Bosatsu
The decorated koto that might be too beautiful to play
Goto Teijo, Koto
"He's like the bouncer of Buddhism."
Fudō Myōō (Achala-vidyārāja)
Kabuki theatre's leading actors influenced fashion and taste and quickly became the subject of popular woodblock prints in Japan
Kabuki actor prints
Sesshu Toyo's painting involves a remarkable economy of brushwork, often called haboku (broken ink) or hatsuboku (flung ink).
Sessō Tōyō, Haboku-style landscape
When is the imperfect, more perfect? Oribe ware was an early 17th-century revolution in tea ceremony ceramics
Oribe Tea Bowl
Art coming from contemporaneous Ming-dynasty China as well older Chinese art deeply influenced Japanese arts, especially the emerging local tradition of ink landscape painting.
Nanbokuchō and Muromachi periods, an introduction
The Heisei period saw the establishment of new art museums and the adoption of new means of expression among Japanese artists.
Heisei period, an introduction
The Showa period was one of dynamic changes—and one affected by world wars and challenges at home.
Shōwa period
The Taishō period continued the process of adoption and transformation of foreign models in Japan
Taishō period, an introduction
After over two centuries of shogunal rule, practical political power was restored to the emperor (Meiji)
Meiji period, an introduction
The Edo period saw an intensified circulation of visual vocabulary and aesthetic principles between mediums (paintings, ceramics, lacquerware, and textiles often shared the similar motifs) and crossing different registers of culture from design to popular culture to nostalgia for a romanticized pre-modern past.
Edo period, an introduction
The Azuchi-Momoyama period gets its name from the opulent residences of two warlords who attempted to unify Japan.
Azuchi-Momoyama period, an introduction
During the Kamakura period, the confluence or syncretism of Buddhism and the indigenous Shintō deepened.
Kamakura period, an introduction
A new religion—Buddhism—was introduced in Japan in the Asuka period, significantly changing Japanese culture and society.
Asuka period, an introduction
In Japan, the lavish Tang style was intertwined with Buddhist devotional art during the Nara period.
Browse Smarthistory images for teaching & learning!
