Japanese Painting - Tradition and Originality

Japanese Painting is one of the oldest forms of Japanese traditional arts. Japanese pottery is often considered the oldest form, however the various genres of painting also have a very long history.

I will soon be displaying and selling some of my own works of Japanese painting, please check back here soon.

Japan has always merged foreign ideas of aesthetics with those that have developed in Japan. Japanese society has influenced the painting styles of the times, and they were never locked into one form. Here is an outline of the different periods of Japanese history:

Ancient Japan and Asuka period (until 710)
Nara period (710-794)
Heian period (794-1185)
Kamakura period (1185-1333)
Muromachi period (1333-1573)
Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573-1603)
Edo period (1603-1868)
Prewar period (1868-1945)
Postwar period (1945-present)

The beginning works that have been uncovered come from the Nara area of Asuka and are highly religious influenced. Murals have been found on old tombs, notably the Takamatsuzuka Tomb. Other artwork has been found painted on Jomon and Yayoi period pottery.

Having lived in Nara, I can definitely say that you feel history all around you. Kofun, or ancient tombs, can be found everywhere. They are often found in general parks and it is a common scene to see families and children playing on top and inside of them. Local museums are filled with Japanese art that has been recovered from these 1,000-year-old tombs. They have become a regular part of society here.

I am affiliated with Taimadera Temple in Nara, and much of its Buddhist art dates back to the Nara and Heian period. Esoteric schools of Buddhism, such as the Shingon School, heavily influenced the Japanese paintings, statures and other forms of art.

Japanese Art and Japanese Gardens

I have been interested in art my whole life. I went to the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, and it was there that I was introduced to Sesshu’s paintings. When I was at school in Kansai Foreign Language Univ. in Osaka I researched and learned the art of Sumi-e, Japanese and Chinese black ink painting.

Having always also had an interest in Japanese gardens, I maintained the gardens at Taimadera Temple and studied/apprenticed at Furukawa Teijuen, one of the largest nurseries and Japanese garden design companies in Kansai. Mr. Furukawa won 1st prize in a recent national Japanese garden competition with an original design of tradition and modernity.

It is Mr. Furukawa that has encouraged me to design gardens, create paintings, and compose music all in the same spirit of blending tradition with my own original approach. According to Furukawa, “Some do it in Kyoto gardens, but there is no point in blindly copying tradition. The gardens and Japanese paintings of the past were great because they were original for that time.”

Heian period gardens were guided by Kara-e (Chinese style) paintings and Yamato-e (Japanese style) paintings. In the Kamakura period Sung and Yuan Dynasty paintings lead the way for dry landscape gardens. Nature has inspired a combination of art and garden.

In my own Japanese painting and garden designs, I let nature and its mysteries guide me. Whether it is creating a Japanese garden or painting, I aim to create a fantasy that allows the person to be taken away. I have studied the tradition and these principles structure what I create. There is no such thing as complete freedom, which is called anomie or chaos, so within certain learned rules I aim to explore the areas where originality can be expressed. This has only come about through years of experience in various Japanese arts in Japan and having teachers that teach tradition and guide self-expression.

Japanese painting has taken many forms throughout history. Now that it is much more appreciated internationally, it will continue to be affected and affect other aspects of art.

Japanese Traditional Art
Japanese Gardens