LITMIR.BIZ

      Fig. 4 Mandala of Dakini-ten, Muromachi era (ca. 1500), hanging scroll, color on silk, 32 x 16 in (81 x 41 cm). Taman Collection. Photo courtesy Osaka Municipal Museum of Art.

      A typical Japanese pictorial technique-fukinuki yatai or roofless rooms-first appeared in 1069, and these are often seen on e-makimono or hand-rolled scrolls. From above, at an oblique angle, the viewer sees people, often courtiers, interacting in palace rooms. The stories focus on feelings and were labeled women's pictures, while the war histories were considered men's, with fast action-like modern comics.

      After centuries of peace, the Heian period ended with nationwide war (1180-85) between the Taira and Minamoto clans. The defeated Taira vengefully torched the great temple of Tōdaiji, appalling the nation. The Great Buddha survived.

      The Kamakura and Muromachi Eras

      With peace, reconstruction followed during the Kamakura (1185-1333) and Muromachi (1333-1573) eras. Tōdaiji was rebuilt and much else. The Kei family of sculptors in Nara (Kokei, Unkei, Kaikei, and Jōkei are the most famous) made many of the finest (and often fearsome) replacements, mainly chiseled in wood, marking a great period in Japan's sculpture.

      The nation, however, fell into despondency. The horrors of civil war and endless suffering brought about a feeling of dislocation and fear of the afterlife, so many pictures portray the worlds of suffering there in rokudō-e (six realms of unenlightenment, humans, animals, ever-fighting demons, hungry demons, and those in hell) so salvation seemed no longer easy. New Pure Land Buddhist sects grew up to comfort people, and there was renewed interest in raigō and mandalas, such as the Taima Mandala which could help people visualize the teachings by employing diagrams.

      The Impact of Zen

      In the late twelfth century, Zen entered Japan. Its emphasis on personal effort, meditation, self-discipline, and intellectual stringency, appealed to the military class. Zen masters relied on zazen (seated meditation), kōan (intellectual puzzles to tease the mind into achieving mental breakthroughs on the path to enlightenment or satori), and personal contact, rather than scripture. Zen also led to new artistic approaches: kare-sansui (rock/pebble gardens) were designed to let a meditator look into them and see aspects of life. Zen paintings tended to portray people on the edge of society, like the clowns Kanzan and Jittoku, and include humor; often they have an unfinished look, as though they had been dashed off in a trice. Kaō Ninga and Mokuan Reien (flourished, hereafter "fl.") fourteenth century) were early masters, while Kichizan Minchō (1352-1431) was more formal in works like the "Nehanzu" (Buddha's deathbed scene) that he painted for Tōfukuji in Kyoto. Sesshū Tōyō (1420-1506) was the greatest Zen painter-priest, excelling at landscapes (Fig. 5) with brushwork influenced by his long sojourn in China.

      In later ages, the artistic side of Zen dried up but Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768) produced some of the most memorable images ever, though he was not trained as a painter. His picture of Daruma (the founder of Zen Buddhism in Japan) (Fig. 6) is the epitome of all that is wonderful in imaginative portraiture. Short statements of Zen tenets are common in scrolls and usually very affordable.

      The Golden Age of Screens

      Tosa Mitsunobu (b. 1434), a famous court painter, is thought to have made the first large rakuchū rakugai screens, depicting Kyoto and its environs. During the next century, such genres and other large pictures in the blue and gold, landscape, and figural styles became extremely popular among daimyō (provincial governors and landowners) who wanted large pictures painted on doors (fusuma) and screens (byōbu) to demonstrate their power.

      The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were a golden age for painting. Kanō Eitoku (1543-90), schooled by his grandfather Motonobu, excelled at bold designs, both colored and black and white. Inheriting good connections with daimyō, he received many commissions as they rebuilt after a century of war. His trees particularly are dramatic. Formerly, artists placed trees at corners, echoing the geometry of rooms, but his straddle the center. In a very modern way, only the base of a tree trunk is shown: we imagine the tip of the towering trunk but see only the first few feet, for example, of the cypress. Kanō Mitsunobu and Sanraku continued the tradition, but softened it, so their work is less dramatic and more decorative. Others trained in the school were Hasegawa Tōhaku and Kaihō Yushō, who excelled at wispy nature scenes.

      Sōtatsu, the owner of the Tawaraya fan shop in Kyoto, was perhaps the greatest artist of the early seventeenth century. Works like the Matsushima screen "Gods of Wind and Fire," and the "Deer" hand scroll have Eitoku's scope, greater creativity of line, but not his apocopation. His style was taken forward by a descendant, Ogata Kōrin (1658-1716), who did wonderful flowing pictures of streams and clusters of irises. His mantle was taken up by Ki'itsu. These are termed Rimpa artists, literally Kōrin school followers.

      The Kanō school continued for centuries, by adapting. Kanō Tanyū (1602-74) paved the way. He moved to Edo, the modern Tokyo, to be near the military rulers, followed by three other painter members of his family, who set up studios and became hereditary official painters. Tanyū, grandson of Eitoku, was conservative in his work, but also varied his output. He painted Confucian themes and revived Yamato-e battle scenes. Kanō Osanobu (1796-1846) was the last well-known family member.

      A number of Muromachi arts grew into some of Japan's most idiosyncratic and defining forms of expression-which matters to collectors, as their values permeate taste in the country.

      Non-Portable Arts

      Tea Drinking

      Zen priests and warriors were the main practitioners of Tea drinking in the first centuries. Gradually the custom spread and knowledge of Tea became a requisite for cultured men. To show his respect for it, in 1587 Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98, r. 1582-98) invited all and sundry to Kitano Shrine, Kyoto, to attend the greatest Tea party ever given; it lasted ten days. Another time he had a completely gold tea room and tea utensils made, took it to the Emperor and served him tea in it, then took it back to his own palace-at a time when tea houses were austere and simple (Fig. 7).