66. Statue of Prince Shōtoku
67. Bronze Mirror
68. Karabitsu
69. One of Twelve Devas(Moon)
70. Fudō
71. Prince Shōtoku Taishi
72. Portrait of Yoritomo
73. Kasuga Gongen Reikenki
74. Noe Hōshi Ekotoba
75. Niō, by Unkei
76. Seshin, by Unkei
77. Hachiman Bodhisattva, by Kwaikei
78. Jizō
79. Gushōjin
80. Kiyomori
81. General, wearing Grand Armor
82. Grand Armor
83. Helmet
84. Bronze Mirror
85. Bronze Mirror
86. Iron Lantern
87. Koma-inu, Pottery of a Dog
88. Gold lacquer Ink-stone Box
89. The Main Temple
90. The Interior of the Main Temple
91. Yakusan and Rikō
92. Monkeys, by Mokkei
93. Tekkai, by Gan Ki
94. Shōichi Kokushi, by Minchō
95. Man Watching a Catfish, by Josetsu
96. Landscape, by Shūbun
97. Winter Landscape, by Shessū
98. Rinzai, by Jasoku
99. Waterfall, by Gei-ami
100. Landscape, by Masanobu
101. Chinese Landscape, by Motonobu
102. Kiyomizu-dera Engi, by Tosa Mitsunobu
103. The Priest Butsugai
104. Priest Daio Kokushi
105. Statue of Confucius
106. Grand Armor
107. Decoration of Sword Mounting, by Gotō Yūjō
108. Ashiya Kettle
109. Gold Lacquer Desk, by Igarashi Shinsai
110. Gold Lacquer Ink-stone Box, by Igarashi Shinsai
111. Gold Lacquer Box
112. Octagonal Stupa
113. Founder’s Hall
114. Scripture Depository
115. Tabasami
116. Five-storied Stupa
117. Ancient Garden Illustrated in the Matsuzaki Tenjin Engi
118. The Tenryū-ji Garden
119. Saihō-ji Garden
120. Ryūan-ji Garden
121. Daisen-in Garden
122. Lions, by Eitoku
123. Cherry Tree in Full Bloom, by Sanraku
124. Three Tasters of Vinegar, by Yusho
125. Fishing Net, by Yusho
126. Capital Ornament
127. Phoenix and Paulownia in Gold Lacquer
128. Gold Lacquer Dinner Tray
129. Detail of Fig. 128
130. Raku-yaki Tea-Bowl, by Chōjirō
131. Castle of Himeji
132. Jodan-no-ma
133. Panel Frieze
134. Open Gallery of the Shoin-zukuri
135. Kara-mon Gate
136. Open Work of the Kara-mon Gatex
137. Shōnan-tei Tea-ceremony House
138. Interior of Shōnan-tei Tea-ceremony House
139. Interior of Ōsaki Hachiman
140. Landscape Painting, by Tannyū
141. Landscape Painting, by Naonobu
142. Genji Monogatari Picture, by Satatsu
143. Plum Tree, by Kōrin
145. Flowers and Birds, by Hōitsu
146. One of Thirty-six Poets, by Matahei
147. Ukiyo-e Painting, by Hishikawa Moronobu
148. Lady, by Kwaigetsudō Andō
149. Ladies on the Ryōgoku Bridge, by Utamaro
150. Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai
151. View of Lake Seiko in China, by Taiga
152. Chinese Lanndscape, by Buson
153. Waves and Cranes, by Ōkyo
154. Bamboo Grove, by Ōkyo
155. SnowLandscape, by Goshun
156. Mt. Fuji, by Itchō
157. Cocks, by Itō Jakuchū
158. Monkey, by Sosen
159. Tea-jar, by Ninsei
160. Iro-nabeshima
161. Satsuma Ware
162. Ko-kutani
163. Gold Lacquer Ink-stone Box, by Kōetsu
164. Raised Gold Lacquer Box, by Kō-ami Nagashige
165. Gold Lacquer Box, by Kōrin
166. Kosode Garment with Painted Pattern, by Kōrin
167. Interior of Zuihōden Mausoleum
168. Hattō
169. Stepping Stones of a Tea-garden
170. Tsukubai of a Tea-garden
171. Flat Garden
172. Rikugi-en Garden
173. Kōraku-en Garden
174. Ritsurin Park
175. Suizen-ji Garden
176. Iso-no-bettei Garden
177. Hibo Kwannon, by Kanō Hōgai
178. Autumn Landscape, by Gahō
179. Fugen Bodhisattva
180. Figure of Shaka
181. Animal Caricatures
182. Matsuzaki Tenjin Engi
183. Picture of Hungry Devils
184. Landscape, by Sesshu
185. Landscape, by Motonobu
186. Dragonand Cloud, by Ōkyo
187. Kwannon
188. Kwannon
189. Tea Bowl, by Third Dō-nyū
190. Hand-warmer, by Dohachi
191. Tea Pot, by Mokubei
192. Iro-nabeshima
193. Satsuma
194. San-tsai-pot
195. Tray for Censer
196. Chest
197. Chest of Drawers
198. Bronze Mirror
199. Bronze Mirror
200. Five-storied Stupa
201. Mausoleum of Second Shogun
202. Shari-den
203. Daibutsu
204. Gushō-jin
205. Figure of Uesugi Shigefusa
206. Hōyaki Amida Engi
207. Yōmei-mon
208. Carving of Gallery
209. Shogun’s Chamber
210. Outer Building of Konjiki-dō
211. Interior of Konjiki-dō
212. Ichiji Kinrin
213. Nagoya Castle
214. Sliding Screens
215. Interior of Taimen-jo
216. Sutra on the Cause and Effect of the Past and Present
217. Shaka-muni Buddha Rising from the Golden Coffin
218. Buddhist Sutra Dedicated by the Heike Family
219. Pictorial Biography of Ippen Shōnin
220. Pictorial Biography of Hōnen Shōnin
221. Amida Triad rising over Mountain
222. Paradise, Hell, and Terrestrial World
223. Rakan, by Minchō
224. Head of Buddha
225. Hermit Attendant called Hasu
226. Detail of the Fig. 225
227. Shinto Deity
228. Kōdai-ji Gold Lacquer
229. Tsuishu Tray
230. Celadon Flower Vase
231. Incense Burner
232. Great Kitchen of Myōhō-in, Kyoto
233. Interior of the Great Reception Hall
234. Sanjusangen-dō
235. Interior of Sanjusangen-do Temple
236. Main Temple
237. Main Hall
238. Tiger Room
239. Tiger by Tannyū
240. Silver Pavilion
241. Tōgu-dō Hall
242. Garden of Silver Pavilion
243. Upper Garden (I)
244. Upper Garden (II)
245. Garden of Hōjō
246. Portrait of Daitō Kokushi
247. Yōryū Kwannon
248. Garden of Tsūsen-in
249. Garden of Hon-dō
250. Golden Pavilion
251. Figure of Shogun Yoshimitsu
252. Garden of Golden Pavilion
253. Part of Kitano Tenjin Engi
254. Nijo Castle
255. Garden of Nijo Castle
256. Black Hall ofm Nijo Castle
257. Jōdan-no-ma of Black Hall
258. Founder’s Hall
259. Interior of White Hall
&n
bsp; 260. Hiun-kaku
261. Sliding Screen of the Fumonin Chapel
262. Sam-mon Gate
263. Interior of the Sam-mon Gate
264. Phoenix Hall
265. Wooden Canopy
266. Image of Amida
267. Dancing Bodhisattva
268. Bodhisattvas Playing Music
269. Bodhisattvas Painted on a Door Panel
270. Omote-shoin
271. Sambō-in Garden (I)
272. Sambō-in Garden (II)
273. Interior of Oku-shoin of Sambō-in
274. Golden Hall of Daigo-ji
275. Five-storied Stupa
276. Picture on a Sliding Screen
277. Interior of the Shin-den Hall
278. General View of the Buildings
279. “Shelves of Katsura”
280. Metal Handles of the Doors
281. Garden of Katsura Imperial Villa
282. Shōkin-tei Tea-ceremony House
283. Chikubu-shima Shrine
284. Carving between the Bracket Works
285. Design of the Coffering
286. Nara Imperial Household Museum
287. Interior of the Nara
288. Kokuzō Bosatsu
289. Figure of Asura
290. Figure of Priest Gien.
291. Figure of Shinto Goddess
292. Vajra Holder
293. Amida Triptych
294. Shigisan Engi
295. Fan-shaped Sutra
296. Vessel with Statuette of Shaka
297. Engraving of the Vessel
298. Musical Instrument
299. Great South Gate
300. Niō.
301. Great Buddha Hall
302. Octagonal Bronze Lantern
303. Angel of the Octagonal Bronze Lantern
304. Detail of the Angel (Fig. 303)
305. Hokke-dō
306. Fukū Kenjaku Kwannon
307. Sacred Crown Worn by Fukū Kenjaku Kwannon.
308. Vajra Holder
309. Figure of Tamon-ten
310. Detail of Fig
311. Shōsō-in Treasury
312. Seven-stringed Psaltery
313. Musical Instrument
314. Lacquer Jar
315. Bronze Mirror
316. Interior of the Main Hall
317. Head of an Attendant of Yakushi
318. Yakushi
319. One-thousand-armed Kwannon
320. Yakushi Triad
321. Grape Design on the Pedestal of Yakushi
322. Entrance of Hōryū-ji Monastery
323. Golden Hall
324. Wall Painting of Amida Triad
325. Detail of the Fig. 324
326. Wall Painting Kwannon
327. Seated Statue of Buddha
328. Shaka Triad in the Golden Hall
329. Phoenix in the Golden Hall
330. Angel in the Golden Hall
331. Amida Triad in the Golden Hall
332. Middle Figure of the Amida Triad in the Golden Hall
333. Halo and Screen of the Amida Triad in the Golden Hall
334. Detail of the Lotus Pond
335. Guardian King in the Golden Hall
336. Five-storied Stupa.
337. Clay Figure in the Stupa
338. Kwannon in the Hall of Dreams
339. Wooden Halo of Kwannon
340. Miroku in the Chūgū-ji
341. General View of the Taima-dera
342. West Stupa
343. Detail of the East Stupa
344. Taima Mandara
345. Detail of Taima Mandara
Part One
A BRIEF HISTORY OF JAPANESE ART
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
It was on December fifth, in the year 1933, that I was invited to a luncheon in tea-ceremony style at the villa of Baron Masuda in Odawara. I arrived there about noon. The gate of his garden was open and a gardener led me through a long path of the garden to a waiting place called yoritsuki. Mr. Matasaku Shiobara, proprietor of the Sankyō Pharmacy Company, was already there, shortly afterwards joined by Mr. Edwin Lowe Neville, the counselor of the American Embassy at Tokyo, and Mr. Saisaburo Nishiwaki, proprietor of the Nishiwaki Bank. The waiting place comprised only two small rooms, one with four and the other, two mats. On the desk ledge of the larger room was placed a gold lacquer ink-stone box of the Kamakura Period for our appreciation. Meanwhile the elderly Baron Masuda appeared at the entrance of the waiting place and announced that the tearoom was ready. He said nothing more but immediately retired.
We all came out, and proceeded along the clean garden path. The stepping stones and rocks were all freshly watered. Crimson leaves that still remained on the trees were falling down to the ground in spite of no breeze touching them.
We next entered the tearoom, where our host was waiting for us. In the alcove of the room was hung an autograph of a high priest mounted with rare printed brocade, called inkin; and on the hearth was placed an iron kettle called ashiya-gama, the design of which is said to have been drawn by Sesshū, a great master of priest-painters in the fourteenth century. The kettle is said to have been once used by Jō-ō, the great tea-master in the sixteenth century.
Our host came out and exchanged greetings with each of us. Then he engaged himself in making a fire in the hearth so as to have hot water in the kettle. The room was so small that we filled it and it was quite secluded from the outside world. We were all silently attentive to every movement of our host.
When our host had finished his work at the hearth, Mr. Nishiwaki, who occupied the seat of the principal guest, asked him for the privilege of examining the incense-holder in which was kept the incense which our host emptied into the hearth. Mr. Nishiwaki, after he had seen it, passed it round to the rest of us. It was a small porcelain box called gōsu, and is said to have been loved by Fumai-kō, an eminent tea-master.
After this, the meal was served by the host, assisted by a female servant. Several rare utensils were used which all of us had the opportunity of examining and appreciating.
When the meal was over, our host asked us to rest for a while. We went out to the garden and took seats on a bench in order to enjoy the garden and fresh air. Shortly afterwards we heard the pleasing sound of a gong. This was the signal to tell us that the tearoom was ready for the second session. We all returned to the tearoom, and were served with thick green tea from a tea-bowl of rare value. In this session we had the opportunity of seeing the unique examples of a tea-bowl, a tea-caddy, a teaspoon, and a water-jar.
After the second session was over we were led by the host through the garden to the main house. Here, in a spacious and brighter room, open to an extensive view of the garden, we were again entertained with lighter tea, and were shown a few selected masterpieces of painting.
In such aesthetic entertainment we spent the whole afternoon, enjoying the hospitality of our host, and the beauty of art and nature, entirely secluded from the outside world of worries and depravity.
Such is the way in which the Japanese collector appreciates art with his friends. This method was initiated in the fourteenth century by the Shogun Yoshimasa, pioneer patron of the tea-ceremony He collected rare specimens of painting and minor arts, and appreciated them with his chosen friends when he held the tea-ceremony in his villa, the Silver Pavilion, at Higashiyama in Kyoto. Therefore this method is closely related to the development of tea-ceremony.
However, it is limited only to privileged collectors. The majority of the people cannot afford such luxury as that described above. More than this, the real appreciation of art has nothing to do with the possession of the things themselves unless one has developed his innate ability to perceive beauty.
Therefore there is another field in the appreciation of art in which every one may enjoy the beauty of things to which he has no legal right of possession. This is a very important factor which may serve for the advancement of human culture.
Now our present problem is how to appreciate Japanese art in such a way as to make it most serviceable for the betterment of human life.
It will therefore be necessary at the beginning of our study that our readers understand the general attitude of Japanese people toward foreign art.
The history of Japanese art shows clearly that the Japanese people are very susceptible to foreign culture. When foreign art has seemed new and more valuable than their own, they have been very eager and serious in introducing it. Sometimes they have gone so far that for a time they have even forgotten their own arts; but they came back in time to normal, assimilating the others only to create thereby a new art. This is a most conspicuous feature of Japanese art history.
Such an attitude toward foreign art has been a perpetual source of the development of Japanese art through the ages.
When we look back over the entire length of our history, we see that the different arts of different periods reflect important aspects of life and culture that have developed without losing their own individuality under foreign influence.
How and where to study Japanese art? This will be the first question our readers wish to have answered. In Japan there are three important centers of old art. They are Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara. In Tokyo there is the Imperial Household Museum; and important private collectors mostly live there. In Kyoto and vicinity there are many Buddhist temples where not only Buddhist art, but also different kinds of lay art may be seen. In the Kyoto Onshi Museum of Art are placed on view a large number of important treasures of art, which are borrowed from many monasteries in Kyoto and its vicinity. Lastly, in Nara, we are able to see early Buddhist art in the Nara Imperial Household Museum, and in such large monasteries as the Tōdai-ji at Nara, and the Hōryū-ji in Yamato.
In the study of Japanese art the most difficult thing is to understand the complicated esoteric symbolism of Buddhist art. Especially iconographic manifestations of Buddhist doctrine are extremely difficult for even Japanese students to understand. But their symbolism had a deep meaning in the religious life of the Japanese people, and is worth the difficulty of studying. Here we see spirituality expressed in a tangible form, which will greatly instruct us in human behavior, and will elevate our manner of living.
This manual is devoted to help these difficulties and to answering the question of where and how to study Japanese art.
CHAPTER 2
Archaic Japanese Art: Prior to the Introduction of Buddhism in 552 A.D.
1. PREHISTORIC POTTERY
From the New Stone Age sites of Japan are found two distinct kinds of pottery with respective characteristics of design and decoration. The earlier kind is called the jōmon-doki pottery and the later one is grouped under the name of the yayoi-shiki pottery. The jōmon-doki pottery vessels often have angular edges and handles modeled into various forms of animal heads. (Fig. 1) The color of this kind of pottery is generally dark gray; the designs are composed of curved lines arranged artistically, and the ground surface has often the impression of a mat. The other kind of pottery belonging to the later stages is usually of a reddish color and seldom has any design. Even when design is present, it is composed only of zigzag lines or a few wavy ones (Fig. 2). That the earlier pottery is entirely different from the later will be seen in our two illustrations. The jōmon-doki pottery is much decorated and its beauty appears in the design, while the yayoi-shiki pottery is simple in decoration and beautiful in form. This essential difference is no doubt due to the different aesthetic attitudes of the different people who had different cultures.