1. Japanese Art, Architecture, Poems & Plays
Mrs. Tucker
7th Grade World History/Honors
Cobalt Institute of Math and Science

2. Art & Architecture Japan borrowed artistic ideas from China and Korea
Japanese artisans made many things with shiny red and black lacquer coating, such as:
Wooden Statues * Furniture * Household Items
Learned “Landscape Paintings” from the Chinese
Used Ink or Watercolors
Painted Images of Nature or battles on paper scrolls or on silk
Origami – Japanese nobles learned to fold paper to make decorative objects
Flower arranging
Buddhist monks and the Samurai Tea Drinking into a beautiful ceremony

3. Shinto Shrines Buddhist Temples
Built in the Japanese Style
Built near a sacred rock, tree, or other natural feature
Usually a wooden building with a single room and a roof made of rice straw
People enter the shrine through a sacred gate called a “Torii”
Built in the Chinese style
Had massive tile roofs held up by thin wooden pillars
Richly decorated
Had many statues, paintings, and altars

4. Poems & Plays Japanese borrowed China’s writing system
Wrote the language of Chinese pictures that stood for whole words
Since the Japanese & Chinese languages were so different, in the A.D. 800’s they added symbols that stood for sounds (much like the alphabet)
Made reading and writing easier
Believed a person’s handwriting revealed much about a person’s education, social standing, and character
Wrote poems, stories, and plays
Oldest form of poetry was the Tanka
Tanka is an unrhymed poem of five lines (captured Nature’s beauty and the joys and sorrows of life)
Haiku formed in the 1600’s
Consisted of three lines of words with a total of 17 syllables
Were colorful and full of emotion and imagery
Created Plays

5. Created Plays The oldest type of plays were called “NOH”
Used to teach Buddhist ideas in the 1300s
Performed on a simple, bare stage
Actors wore masks and elaborate robes
They danced, gestured, and chanted poetry to the beat of drums and flutes