ÆSTHETIC JAPAN
OUTLINE OF TOPICS: Japan’s debt to art.—Wide diffusion of
æsthetic ideals.—Chinese origin of Japanese art.—Painting the
key-note.—Considered a form of poetry.—Characteristics.—Color
prints.—Sculpture.—Keramics.—Metal work.—Cloisonné.
Lacquer.—Embroidery.—Music.—Poetry.—Dancing.—Drama. Tea
ceremonies.—Flower arrangement.—Landscape gardening.—Unity of the
arts.—Bibliography.
It has been said with a great deal of truth that no other country in
the world owes so much to its art as Japan. As Huish puts it, “Japan
would never have attracted the extraordinary notice which she so
rapidly did had it not been for her art.... Her art manufactures have
penetrated the length and breadth of the world.” Yet it is a curious
fact, to which Chamberlain calls attention, that the Japanese have
“no genuinely native word” for either art or nature. The expression
“fine art” is commonly represented by the word _bi-jutsu_, a Chinese
compound meaning literally “beauty-craft.” So intimately are æsthetic
ideals bound up with the whole course of Japanese life and modes of
thought, that art is not, as in the Western world, a mere sporadic
efflorescence, but the inevitable expression of the spirit of the
Eastern civilization, and needing therefore no distinctive term to
denote it as a thing set apart and existing by itself.
While this is true, it is also true that Japan furnishes no exception
to Mr. Whistler’s dictum that “there never was an art-loving nation.”
The explanation of this seeming paradox is one which needs to be borne
in mind. The æsthetic ideals crystallized in the works of the countless
generations of artists who for more than a thousand years have held
to them firmly as their guiding principles, have become so much the
intellectual heritage of the people as a whole that it is most natural
that the foreign observer, noting the æsthetic impress upon everything
about him, should look upon the Japanese as a nation of artists. To an
extent not known elsewhere the Japanese mechanic is indeed an art-isan.
And there is a measure of truth in Percival Lowell’s assertion that
there are “no mechanical arts in Japan simply because all such have
been raised to the position of fine arts.”[149] From the Japanese
point of view, however, differences in degree of artistic perception
are as pronounced among the Japanese as among other peoples. In Japan,
as in all other lands, artistic inspiration is given to but few among
the many; artists having creative genius tower high above their
fellows; and the little touches that excite the wonder and admiration
of the outside world are seen to be in large degree the outcome of
conventional notions rather than the expression of individual feeling.
The art of Japan like most other elements in her civilization is
of Chinese origin. Concurrently with the introduction by way of the
Middle Kingdom of that stream of abstract idealism known as Northern
Buddhism, China became the fountain head whence until comparatively
recent times a succession of æsthetic ideas spread over Japan.[150]
Modern Chinese art is justly held to possess little merit, but in the
days when it exerted its dominating influence upon the Japanese mind
it had attained a very high standard of excellence, and in particular
some of the Chinese painters were among the greatest the world has ever
known. With the exception of a few original modifications, the product
of temperament and historical situation, everything in Japanese art
has come from China; yet the generic ideas have been so worked over
and transformed in the process that the resultant is distinctly not
Chinese but Japanese. The influence of Buddhism has been very great; it
would indeed, be difficult to overestimate it.[151] Most of the earlier
artists were Buddhist priests, and, until the revival of Shintō as the
State religion, during the present reign, Buddhism was directly and
indirectly one of the principal promoters and patrons of the arts.
[Illustration: PAINTING BY HO-ITSU: VIEW OF FUJI-SAN]
Foremost among the arts of Japan, both relatively and as the key
which is necessary to understanding and appreciation of the others,
is painting. It is an art differing in many respects from that of
the European schools of painting, but not less worthy of serious
consideration, and in certain qualities it ranks supreme. To those who
have seen the masterpieces preserved among the temple treasures, or
hidden in the collections of Japanese noblemen, and have felt their
grandeur and charm, this will seem far short of over-statement. In the
West, however, there is little opportunity to gauge the achievements of
the great Japanese painters,[152] and it is even possible to spend a
lifetime in Japan and remain in ignorance thereof.
Japanese critics have always considered painting to be a form of
poetry. The painter therefore strives to represent the soul of things
rather than their visible forms. Not that he scorns realism, indeed
he is often minutely realistic in a way that is unapproachable; but
realism with him is only incidental, his main purpose being to produce
a poem in form and color. To this end all irrelevant details are
necessarily omitted. Nothing is given that in any way interferes with
the central thought. Reduced thus to its simplest elements, his art
calls for the utmost harmony in all that enters into it, and first of
all for perfect composition of line, mass, and vacant space. Scarcely
less important is color arrangement, including the balancing of light
and dark as factors in the result. A high degree of technical skill is
also requisite, for the poetry would be lost should the execution seem
labored. The greatest works are, in appearance at least, spontaneous
to an astonishing degree. Wonderful indeed are the possibilities of
a single brush stroke in the hands of a master. The effects produced
range from almost microscopic realism to the broadest impressionism,
the latter quality being predominant in the works of some of the most
eminent artists.
So far as it is possible to sum them up in a brief statement, the
distinguishing characteristics of Japanese painting are these:—
1. Excellence of composition.
2. Subtlety and beauty of line.
3. Remarkable command of the brush, and directness of method in its
use.
4. Simplicity of treatment, and rigid exclusion of non-essentials.
5. Absence of chiaroscuro, and the employment of _notan_, or contrast
between light and dark.
6. Skilful generalization of forms.
7. Poetical conception.
8. High development of the sense of harmony in color.
Any such summing up is, however, necessarily imperfect. It is not
feasible to give here any account of the various schools and artists,
and the reader desiring more extended information is referred to
the sources indicated in the bibliography appended to this chapter.
Before leaving this branch of the subject, mention should be made of
calligraphy, which, although justly regarded in Japan as an art, is
not so much a separate art as the art of painting applied to writing
the Chinese ideographs. It will not appear strange, therefore, that
masterly writing should be esteemed equally with painting.
An art closely allied to painting is that of chromoxylography, or
color printing from engraved wood blocks. Nothing could be simpler
than the method employed, the sheets of paper being laid face down on
the block which has been previously inked with a brush, and pressure
is then applied by rubbing the back of the sheets with a pad held
in the hand of the printer. Nevertheless no greater triumphs of the
printer’s art have ever been achieved than the beautiful color prints
of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries after designs by Harunobu,
Koriusai, Shunsho, Kyonaga, Toyokuni, Utamaro, Hokusai, and other noted
artists of the Popular school. Though still in use, this process is
largely being superseded by the cheaper, if less artistic, processes of
lithography, collotype, etc.
In glyptic art the triumphs of the Japanese have been little less than
in that of painting. The most remarkable specimens are the ancient
figures in bronze and in wood which are preserved in the temples. The
Daibutsu, or gigantic bronze statue of Buddha, at Nara will serve as
an example, having been illustrated so often that all the world is
familiar with its appearance.
The objects upon which the art of the Japanese sculptors has been
exercised are many. Particularly in the carving of the masks used in
the _Nō_ dances, and the little ornaments called _netsuke_, the skill
and artistic qualities displayed are often of the highest order. It
would be difficult to overpraise the best work of such artists in this
line, as Deme Jikan, Minko, Tomotada, Miwa, and many others. As in the
case of painting, the method used by the carver must be direct and
masterly to satisfy Japanese taste. Only clean, strong strokes will
pass muster. There must be no niggling nor retouching. Visitors to the
shrines at Nikkō will be impressed by this quality in the remarkable
works to be found there by the famous seventeenth-century sculptor
Hidari Jingorō, that is to say, “Left-handed Jingorō.”
One of the most ancient of the arts of Japan is that of the potter.
It is also one of the most profitable for study. The principles which
have been enumerated as applicable to painting will be found carefully
embodied in the fabrication and ornamentation of keramic wares, the
variety of which is endless. In some instances these wares are known by
the names of the makers, as Ninsei, Kenzan, Kozan, Seifu, and others;
but in general they are designated by the names of the provinces
wherein they are made. Thus we have the wares of Satsuma, Hizen, Arita,
Imari, Kaga, Kyōto, Owari, Bizen, Iga, Ota, Soma, Izumo, and many more.
Occasionally the name of a particular locality is used, as for instance
that of Seto in Owari. Here it was that Shirozaemon, called “the Father
of Pottery,” established himself in the thirteenth century; and such
was the repute of the products of his kiln that _Seto-mono_, or Seto
ware, became a generic name in Japan for all keramic productions,
quite as in English we use the term “china” for all kinds of porcelain
wherever made.
Unfortunately the Japanese potter of to-day is largely under the
influence of foreign markets, to the great degradation of his art.
The condition is well portrayed by Huish, who says: “The wealthy
‘red-hairs’ who came to him from the West could see no beauties in the
objects that had given the greatest pleasure to the men of refinement
of his own country; and in order that the potter might participate in
the overflow of silver dollars with which the foreigners were blessed,
he was obliged to put aside those principles which he and his father
before him had looked upon as the fundamental ones of their craft, and
produce wares totally at variance with his preconceived ideas of the
right.”
Many and distinctive are the arts of the Japanese metal-workers. They
are widely renowned for their skill in compounding numerous alloys, for
inlaying one metal upon another, for clever manipulation of refractory
materials such as wrought iron of exceeding toughness which they
nevertheless carve and chase almost as though it were wax, for casting
in bronze and iron by the cire perdue process, and especially for the
manufacture of armor, both offensive (such as swords and spears) and
defensive (such as helmets and coats of mail). Japanese swords excel
even the famous blades of Damascus and Toledo, and the names of the
swordsmiths Munichika, Masamune, Muramasa, and others, are now of
international reputation. The blades which were made by these men are
not only of extraordinary excellence, but are also veritable works of
art and highly prized as such by connoisseurs. Equally celebrated in
different lines are the works of the Miochin and Goto families; and
among the metal-workers of to-day are many worthy successors of these
giants of the past.
The art of enamelling upon metal is, with some exceptions,
comparatively a new one in Japan, but is now very popular. The wares
are known to the Japanese as _Shippō-yaki_, and in general, in the
West, as cloisonné. The centres of the enamel-workers are Tōkyō, Kyōto,
and Nagoya, and the best-known makers are Namikawa, of Tōkyō, the
inventor of the “cloison-less” enamel, and his namesake of Kyōto.
One of the most distinctive of the arts of Japan is that of
lacquering, and the Japanese product far excels that of any other
makers. The lac, which is a varnish made from the poisonous sap of
a tree of the sumac (rhus) family, is applied in thin layers on a
carefully prepared ground, usually of wood, and after being dried in a
moist oven or steam-chest, is carefully rubbed down and polished. This
is repeated with each layer. Various substances, metallic and other,
are mixed with the lac or applied to its surface before it is dry, and
it may be carved and inlaid in different ways. This is a bare outline
of a process which is long and tedious and which has many variations.
Extended accounts with many interesting details will be found in Rein’s
“Industries of Japan,” in the ninth volume of the Transactions of the
Asiatic Society of Japan, and in Volume VII. of Captain Brinkley’s
“Japan.”
[Illustration: PAINTING BY YASUNOBU: HERON AND LOTUS]
Embroidery, like the designing for brocades and other fabrics, is an
art which follows closely the analogies of the art of painting, and is
governed by the same æsthetic principles. The embroiderers in Japan
are not women but men, and in their work they often display remarkable
taste and ability as designers, as well as craftsmanship of the highest
order.
To Occidental ears Japanese music, set, as it always is, in a minor
key and abounding in discords, seems unworthy of the name of music. To
characterize it as merely “strummings and squealings” because it does
not conform to our ideas, is, however, an unfair aspersion. The fact is
that it is based upon a scale which differs from that which we use, one
of its peculiarities being the introduction of a semi-tone above the
tonic. In the Japanese mind music is so closely related to the sister
arts of poetry and dancing that neither can well be treated separately.
As Captain Brinkley tells us: “There is no Japanese music that will
not serve as accompaniment for the Japanese stanza, and the stanza, in
turn, adapts itself perfectly to the fashion of the Japanese dance. The
law of the unities seems to have prescribed that the cadence of the
stanza should melt into the lilt of the song, and that the measure of
the song should be worked out by the ‘woven paces and waving hands’ of
the dance. The affinity between them is so close that it is difficult
to tell where one begins and the other ends.”
Japanese poetry is also conspicuously different from that of the
Occident. It is a form of word painting in brief lyrics, and “it is
primarily an expression of emotion.” The odes which all Japanese learn
to compose are verbal melodies which can be neither transposed nor
translated. Owing to the nature of the Japanese language, there are no
accented syllables, nor is there any quantity, nor any rhyme. This is
well explained by Aston in his “History of Japanese Literature.” He
says:—
“As every syllable ends in a vowel, and as there are only five vowels,
there could only be five rhymes, the constant reiteration of which
would be intolerably monotonous.... The only thing in the mechanism of
Japanese poetry which distinguishes it from prose is the _alternation
of phrases of five and seven syllables each_. It is, in fact, a
species of blank verse.”
The art of dancing, which consists mainly in rhythmic posturings,
often of great beauty, and requiring not only physical training of
the most rigorous character but a high degree of skill, is in turn
intimately associated with the histrionic art. For an account of
the early dances and their gradual merging into the classical drama
or dance known as _Nō_ (literally, “accomplishment”), the reader is
referred to the third volume of Captain Brinkley’s “Japan: Its History,
Arts, and Literature.” Few foreigners ever learn to appreciate Japanese
dancing. Its primary purpose is mimetic. “The mechanics of the dance,”
says Brinkley, “are as nothing to the Japanese spectator compared with
the music of its motion, and he interprets the _staccato_ and _legato_
of its passages with discrimination amounting almost to instinct. In
exceptional cases the foreigner’s perception may be similarly subtle,”
but as he must generally be unable to apprehend the esoterics of the
dance, he is “like one watching a drama where an unknown plot is acted
in an unintelligible language.”
As to the Japanese drama proper, it differs from our own chiefly in the
stage setting and accessories, and in the greater importance given to
the mimetic side of the performance.
An art essentially Japanese is that of flower arrangement. In its
origin it is closely related to the _Cha-no-yu_, or Tea Ceremonial,
which developed into a cult during the Shōgunate of Ashikaga Yoshimasa
in the fifteenth century. This cult, which was founded on the four
cardinal virtues of urbanity, courtesy, purity, and imperturbability,
has been a mighty force in holding the Japanese true to a high
standard in matters of taste, by combining “æsthetic eclecticism of
the most fastidious nature with the severest canons of simplicity and
austerity.” The end has been achieved not so much by the elaborate
code as through what it stands for; the ceremony being in reality a
gathering of connoisseurs to view works of art, each of which to win
favor must meet the requirements of the most exacting taste. Out of
the æsthetic necessity of making fitting disposition of the flowers
introduced into the tea-room, grew the art of _Ike-bana_, or flower
arrangement. This has gradually come to have an elaborate code of its
own, and several distinct “schools” have arisen. In a general way it
may be said that the art consists in arranging flowers with regard to
harmonious composition of line, while keeping in mind certain poetic
analogies which must not be violated, and the appearance of vitality
and natural growth. Here, again, the principles of composition in
painting find their application.
Still another application is found in landscape gardening, which in the
hands of the Japanese is also a fine art. This too has its different
“schools” and its special code of rules, formulated during the many
centuries of development at the hands of successive generations of
artists.
Japan is, in truth, a shining example of the essential unity of all
the arts, and illustrates admirably the truth of the old saying,
_Natura artis magister_ (Nature the mistress of art). Unfortunately,
what has been said in this chapter applies more to Old Japan than to
the Japan of to-day. Modern Japan, whether rightly or wrongly, is
becoming tired of being praised for æsthetic excellence, and is more
anxious to be appraised and appreciated for its material, social,
commercial, and political “progress.” To the cultivated Japanese,
who regard art as the highest outcome and flowering of civilization,
this tendency is not encouraging. And as to the future of Japanese
art, its perpetuation must come from excluding rather than attempting
to amalgamate Western ideas. In the impressive words of Okakura, the
outcome will be “victory from within, or a mighty death without.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
_Painting_: “The Pictorial Arts of Japan” (Anderson); “Catalogue of
Japanese and Chinese Paintings in the British Museum” (Anderson);
“The Painters of Japan” (Morrison).
_Prints_: “An Outline of the History of Ukiyo-ye” (Fenollosa);
“Geschichte des Japanischen Farbenholzschnitts” (Seidlitz); “Japanese
Illustration” (Strange); “Japanese Wood Engravings” (Anderson);
“Japanese Wood-cutting and Wood-cut Printing” (Tokuno).
_Pottery_: “Catalogue of the Morse Collection of Japanese Pottery,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston” (Morse); “Japan: Its History, Art, and
Literature” (Brinkley); “Keramic Art of Japan” (Audsley and Bowes);
“L’Art Japonais” (Gonse).
_Glyptic Art_: “Histoire de l’Art du Japan,” published by the
Japanese Commission for the Paris Exposition of 1900. This work
contains much information about all the arts, not available elsewhere.
_Metal Work—Lacquer_: “The Industries of Japan” (Rein); “Notes
on Shippo” (Bowes); “Ornamental Arts of Japan” (Audsley); “L’Art
Japonais” (Gonse); “Japan and its Art” (Huish).
_Music_: “The Music and Musical Instruments of Japan” (Piggott);
“Miyako-Dori” (Bevan).
_Poetry_: “History of Japanese Literature” (Aston); “Classical Poetry
of the Japanese” (Chamberlain); “Japanese Odes” (Dickins).
_Drama_: “Artistic Japan,” vol. v. (edited by S. Bing).
_Flower Arrangement_: “The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral
Arrangement” (Conder).
_Landscape-Gardening_: “Landscape-Gardening in Japan” (Conder).
_Tea Ceremonial_: “The Book of Tea” (Okakura).
_General_: “An Artist’s Letters from Japan” (La Farge); “Jinrikisha
Days in Japan” (Scidmore).