See carswers for Japan political system.
Japanese music is primarily a unity of music, words and dance. But it also includes pure instrumental music and has developed the greatest variety of forms in the field of vocal music. In addition to the European music that dominates…
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Japanese theater, domestic and imported forms of performance in Japan since the 8th century AD (pictorial and written documents or transmission of gestures, choreography, music of the courtly arts): jugglers’ arts, sacred dances, courtly ceremonial theater. As in the rest…
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The media art is v. a. represented by the artists Tatsuo Miyajima (* 1957) and Hitoshi Nomura (* 1945). The artist collective Dumb Type (founded in 1987) is one of the innovative contemporary multimedia artists. In photography, H. Sugimoto, N….
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The traditional woodcut art could no longer at the beginning of the Meiji period to build on the previous quality. Notable artists in this field were Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (* 1839, † 1892) and Kobayashi Kiyochika (* 1847, † 1915). In…
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Besides Suzuki Harunobu, who is known for his subtle depictions of women, the enigmatic Tōshūsai Sharaku, famous for his haunting portraits of actors, the Torii Kiyonaga, who is important for his exciting compositions of interior and exterior views, and Kitagawa…
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Edo period (1603-1868) The great teachers of the tea ceremony, Sen no Rikyū and Kobori Enshū (* 1579, † 1647), worked as masters of aesthetics. Restrained simplicity of form, as required by the tea ceremony, was particularly evident in garden…
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Sculpture workshops (Bussho), which continued the tradition of Jōchō, existed since the 11th century. The Keischule at Kōfukuji in Nara is particularly productive: Unkei, Kōkei (around 1150), Kaikei (* 1174, † 1253), Jōkei (around 1200) and Tankei (* 1173, †…
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The oldest picture scrolls (emakimono) of Buddhist type are preserved from the Nara period. Text illustrations on the Buddha’s life (E-ingakyō), the cult image of the goddess of luck Kichijōten (771, in the Yakushiji) painted on silk and mostly profane…
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Japanese art, term for art in the field of Japan. Japan v. a. from China (adoption of Chinese culture and writing; introduction of Buddhism in the 6th century), but also from Korea. The import of foreign art forms and styles…
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Modern and present (after 1868) The opening of the country and the resulting massive confrontation with Western cultural assets caused profound upheavals such as the creation of a modern literary language (conversion from the artificial, classical language to an idiom…
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