page_title: History of Asian art
section_title: Japanese art
hierarchical_section_title: History of Asian art / East Asian art / Japanese art
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 『東海道五十三次（隷書東海道）』より「東海道　廿一　五十三次　鞠子」 English: Artist:Utagawa Hiroshige,"Reisho Tokaido":Mariko, 1840, woodcut, Location:Philadelphia Museum of Art Hiroshige "Reiso Tokaido": Mariko, 1840, woodcut, Philadelphia Museum of Art artist Utagawa Hiroshige
context_page_description: The history of Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions and religions across the continent of Asia. Developments of art in Asia historically parallel those in Western art, in general a few centuries earlier. East Asian art had significant influence on Western art, and vice versa.Near Eastern art and South Asian art also had a significant influence on Western art. Excluding prehistoric art, the art of Mesopotamia represents the oldest forms of art in Asia.
context_section_description: Japanese art and architecture is works of art produced in Japan from the beginnings of human habitation there, sometime in the 10th millennium BC, to the present. Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper, and a myriad of other types of works of art; from ancient times until the contemporary 21st century.
  The art form rose to great popularity in the metropolitan culture of Edo (Tokyo) during the second half of the 17th century, originating with the single-color works of Hishikawa Moronobu in the 1670s. At first, only India ink was used, then some prints were manually colored with a brush, but in the 18th century Suzuki Harunobu developed the technique of polychrome printing to produce nishiki-e.
  Japanese painting (絵画, Kaiga) is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese arts, encompassing a wide variety of genre and styles. As with the history of Japanese arts in general, the history of Japanese painting is a long history of synthesis and competition between native Japanese aesthetics and adaptation of imported ideas.
  The origins of painting in Japan date well back into Japan's prehistoric period. Simple stick figures and geometric designs can be found on Jōmon period pottery and Yayoi period (300 BC – 300 AD) dōtaku bronze bells. Mural paintings with both geometric and figurative designs have been found in numerous tumulus from the Kofun period (300–700 AD).
  Ancient Japanese sculpture was mostly derived from the idol worship in Buddhism or animistic rites of Shinto deity. In particular, sculpture among all the arts came to be most firmly centered around Buddhism. Materials traditionally used were metal—especially bronze—and, more commonly, wood, often lacquered, gilded, or brightly painted. By the end of the Tokugawa period, such traditional sculpture – except for miniaturized works – had largely disappeared because of the loss of patronage by Buddhist temples and the nobility.
  Ukiyo, meaning "floating world", refers to the impetuous young culture that bloomed in the urban centers of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), Osaka, and Kyoto that were a world unto themselves. It is an ironic allusion to the homophone term "Sorrowful World" (憂き世), the earthly plane of death and rebirth from which Buddhists sought release.
caption: Hiroshige, Snow falling on a town, c. 1833, ukiyo-e print
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