Collecting Japanese Antiques - Alistair Seton

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(Yumedono), rumored to be on the site where Shōtoku Taishi lived, which may have caused the secrecy, and he may be the model. In the late nineteenth century, the famous American aesthetician Ernest Fenollosa, sculptor Kanō Tessai, and art theorist Okakura Tenshin demanded to be shown it. They were refused but persisted though the priests said the heavens would open. Tenshin got in and was greeted by 1,200 years of stale air but the three found a superb Asuka-era (seventh-century) Kan'non in perfect condition, as related by Fenollosa in his Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art.

      Fig. 1 Jōmon (rope-patterned) earthen jar, mid-Jōmon era, ca. 3000 sc, ht 9 in (23 cm), excavated at Chō-jagahara, Ni'igata Prefecture. Jar has characteristic raised, flame-like relief lines and animal designs. Photo courtesy Kyoto National Museum.

      Fig. 2 Fourteen dōtaku (ceremonial bells) and seven halberd heads from Sakuragaoka-chō, Kobe, mid-Yayoi era (AD 100?), designated National Treasures, max. ht of dōtaku 25 in (63 cm), halberds 11 in (28 cm) long. Photo courtesy Kobe City Museum.

      Spareness, Asymmetry, and Stylization

      From Heian times, when sexual morality was less important than aesthetic taste, Japanese art has tended to avoid depicting the ugly or vulgar and to concentrate instead on nature rather than man, the symbolic rather than the realistic. The major thrust is yūgen or refined, near mystical elegance, showing an almost feminine sensibility. It has delighted in flowing lines and irregular shapes, eschewing the square or symmetrical, and has accepted that art is impermanent-hence the attraction of three-day cherry petals and mono no aware (the pathos of transience). Typical materials seem fragile to a Western eye: wooden temples, bark roofs, mud walls, straw mat floors, translucent paper windows, paper scrolls and prints.

      Telling concepts include an aim for simplicity (words like wabi and sabi, meaning austere simplicity with a hint of loneliness), or shibui (restrained, avoiding the showy), as well as an uncluttered or empty space (ma) which allows the onlooker to add his own something. Interestingly, ma is applied in all the arts, even music where silence may convey more than sound, and in comic theater where timing is everything.

      Spareness is valued in the look of a page and the brevity of a poem (hence haiku's mere three lines and waka's five), an understated teahouse, unsculpted stone lantern, or a flowerless pebble garden. Artists aim to achieve such technical mastery that they can create a work with muga (no gap between the imaginative moment and the accomplishment), whereas a lesser artist feels some veil, some hesitation between his wish and the fulfillment.

      Stylization (yōshiki-ka) and stratification into hierarchies have always been important. If you look at people in older art or later woodblock prints (ukiyo-e), they tend to have the traditional "hook nose and line mouth;' so reveal no individuality or realism. In a way "a woman is a woman," without thinking about what makes her unique. At the same time, artists have been categorized since around 1600 in ascending order of honor into hōkyō, hōgen, and hoin, so signatures on scrolls may start, for example, with hagen. Titles like tenka-ichi ("best under heaven" but really "best in Japan") and jō-ichi ("best locksmith") have also been given.

      Interesting technical facets include the way space is broken up in paintings by clouds to delineate areas (we see this in screens, where distant Mt Fuji could be "near" Kyoto) or form a general background, and in furniture by chigaidana, interrupted shelving, where a shelf ends halfway with a descent to a higher/lower level, with an S-bend or angular corner. A desire for subdued simplicity has co-existed with sumptuous gold screens and lacquerware, the Golden Phoenix Pavilion at Uji, and the gaudy, overdecorated temples of Nikkō (though this is not the core of Japan's aesthetic tradition as the temples were erected for political reasons).

      An excellent statement of Japan's aesthetic is Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness), written about 1330 by Yoshida Kenkō. He praises the under- or overripe, the no longer perfect, the frayed but good quality scroll over the new. He also believed that it was beginnings and ends that are interesting. Modern Japanese have forgotten the latter but continue to enjoy the bud more than the flower. In all, the keen aesthetic sense in Japan's ferocious yet graceful ancient sculptures, medieval swords, sixteenth-century screens, castles, Edo era netsuke and inrō (netsuke are obi or belt counter-balancers and inrō little drawered boxes dangling from the obi) and kimono is a major component of mankind's artistic heritage.

      Fig. 3 Male haniwa, Kofun era (6th c.), ht 29 1/2 in (75 cm), excavated at Wakiya, Gunma Prefecture. The figure has a sedge hat, mizura hair style, short sword, and hoe. Other haniwa were warriors, female shamans, and farmers with tools or weapons. Photo courtesy Kyoto National Museum.

      Unknown and Speculative Early History

      The first examples found in Japan of works embodying man's desire for beauty are the recently found ca. 15,000-year-old pottery shards from the Jōmon period (13000-300 BC)-as old as anywhere on earth. At that time, Japan was probably still linked to Korea and Russia. When the Ice Age ended, the Japan Sea rose, leaving Japan an archipelago. Naturally, many Jōmon pieces are incomplete, but fascinate us with their weird crowns or arabesque tracery and rope-induced markings. The law says that newly excavated items belong to the state and Jōmon pieces are not readily available to collectors, but pieces do reach the market and recent shows (for example, at the British Museum in 2001) have revealed how wonderful these pots are with their incredible crowns (Fig. 1).

      The Jōmon gave way to the Yayoi era (300 BC-AD 300) when pots became restrained, but more typical are the dōtaku or ceremonial bronze bells (Fig. 2). The Kofun era (AD 300-710) is named after its massive grave mounds or tumuli. Earlier human sacrifices were replaced by earthenware servants, soldiers, and animals to accompany the rich on their journey into the next life: these fascinating figures are called haniwa (Fig. 3). They appear goofy to some and charming to others in current reproductions. The many extant bronze mirrors had magical powers (they could see spirits) as well as practical use in checking one's coiffure or make-up.

      Imperial burial mounds are huge and their secrets carefully hidden by the Imperial Household Agency. The Wajinden section on Japan of the third-century Chinese history Wei Zhi tells us about the shaman queen Himiko of Yamatai being buried in a tumulus, along with 100 male and female servants. The 80 acre (32.3 hectare) burial mound of Nintoku (r. 395-427) is very impressive from the air. Important secrets will be revealed when permission is finally given for archaeologists to enter this vast grave south of Osaka.

      From the sixth century, a cultural tide flowed in from Korea and China, bringing knowledge of Buddhism and advanced arts of the two countries, like metalworking, textile weaving; and government. Later, a quarter of the courtiers were said to be Koreans.

      The First Buddhist Masterpieces

      There was considerable opposition to Buddhism from nationalists but this did not halt the completion of the first large temples by the end of the sixth century (Shiten'nōji in 593; Asukadera in 596; Wakakusadera ca. 607, near Osaka). Architects and artists started from Korean and Chinese originals. We know that Shiba Tori, grandson of a Chinese temple craftsman, sculpted many of their main images. The great early Buddhist temples were set up in or near Nara. Hōryūji was built ca. 650-711; Yakushiji ca. 700; Kōfukuji ca. 720; Tōdaiji was finished in 752 and its Shōsōin Imperial Storehouse four years later, and Tōshōdaiji in the mid- late eighth century. Together they form the best of ancient architecture and house much of the greatest sculpture and other art treasures.

      After the court moved to Kyoto in 794, new forms of Buddhism were propagated by Saichō on Mount Hiei to the northeast and Kūkai (also known as Kōbō Daishi) at nearby Tōji and Mt Kōya, many miles away to the south. Both went to China to study in 804. On their return, Saichō tried to synthesize the various traditions and strains in the Tendai sect, while Kūkai taught that Shingon, an esoteric sect with many exotic rituals, was the only true path. Tōji has the best-known pagoda in Japan

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