1. Japanese Art & Literature
By: Genesis Conrado

2. Japanese Literature: Earliest Writings
The written literature of Japanese forms is one of the richest in Oriental Traditions.
Although Japanese and Chinese are different languages, the Japanese borrowed and adapted Chinese ideographs early in the 8th cent. in order to render their spoken language in written form. Because Japanese is better suited to phonetic transcription, the result is a language of extremely complicated linguistic construction.
After the middle of the 19th century, the impact of the modern Western culture became predominant.
In 712 the new writing system was used in the compilation of orally preserved poems and stories into the Kojiki [records of ancient matters], an account of the divine creation of Japan and its imperial clan. Another historical work, the Nihon-shoki [chronicles of Japan] (721), was written in Chinese. The oldest anthology of Japanese verse, Manyoshu [collection of a myriad leaves] (760), contains about 4,500 poems.

3. Japanese Literature: The Heian Era
The Heian Era is referred to as the Golden Era of Japanese Art & Literature.
Murasaki Shikibu wrote the 54-chapter novel Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji) [in early 11 century] , while another, Sei Shonagon, wrote Makura no soshi (The Pillow Book), a diverse collection of jottings and essays [around 996]
Others also wrote diaries and stories, and their psychological portrayals remain fresh and vivid to present-day readers.

4. Japanese Literature: Medieval Literature
Japan experienced many civil wars which led to the development of a warrior class, and subsequent war tales, histories, and related stories.
Work from this period is notable for its insights into life and death, simple lifestyles, and Seppuku
Tale of the Heike, an epic account of the struggle between two clans for control of Japan at the end of the twelfth century.

5. Japanese Literature: The Edo Era
The Tokugawa Period is commonly referred to as the Edo Period. The capital of Japan moved from Kyoto to Edo (modern Tokyo)
Scholarly work continued to be published in Chinese, which was the language of the learned much as Latin was in Europe
Chikamatsu Monzaemon, a kabuki dramatist, known as the Japan's Shakespeare
Many genres of literature made their debut during the Edo Period, helped by a rising literacy rate among the growing population of townspeople

6. Japanese Literature: Post-War & Contemporary
World War II, and Japan's defeat, deeply influenced Japanese literature. Many authors wrote stories of disaffection, loss of purpose, and the coping with defeat. Prominent writers of the 1970s and 1980s were identified with intellectual and moral issues in their attempts to raise social and political consciousness.
Modern Japanese writers covered a wide variety of subjects, one particularly Japanese approach stressed their subjects' inner lives, widening the earlier novel's preoccupation with the narrator's consciousness Post-War and Contemporary Literature
In Japanese fiction, plot development and action have often been of secondary interest to emotional issues. In keeping with the general trend toward reaffirming national characteristics, many old themes re-emerged, and some authors turned consciously to the past.

7. Japanese Art: History
Both technologically and aesthetically, Japan, has for many centuries, been influenced by Chinese styles and cultural developments some of which came from Korea.
Recently, Western techniques and artistic values have also added their impact.

8. Japanese Art: Jomon Art
The Jomon people are said to have been the first settlers of Japan.
They are known for their “cord-markings”, impressions made with rope which was first applied to pottery.
Their pottery originally started out with flat bottoms but, pointed bottoms became common later.
Flame vessels and crown formed vessels are very distinctive from this time period.
They clay figurines, called dogu, feature geometric designs and short, stubby limbs.

9. Japanese Art: Yayoi Art
The Yayoi people arrived in Japan around 350 BCE with their skills in wetland rice cultivation, manufacturing in copper weapons and bronze bells, and wheel thrown, kiln fire ceramics.
Believed to have came from the Korean peninsula, along came Korean and Chinese influence.
Yayoi pottery tends to be smoother than Jomon pottery.
It features decorations made with sticks or combs, as opposed to rope.

10. Japanese Art: Kofun Art
Modification of Yayoi culture. It’s named Kofun for the amount megalithic tombs in Japan.
Artifacts founds from the Kofun period include, bronze, mirrors, symbols of political alliances and haniwa (clay sculptures)
Examples of stoneware containers.
Made of gray blue-gray clay that was typical of the Kofun art.

11. The Influence of Buddhism & China
552 was the official date of Buddhism into Japan
The earliest Japanese sculptures of Buddha are dated to the the 6th and 7th century. They derive from the 1st-3rd century Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, characterized by flowing dress patterns and realistic rendering, on which chinese and Korean artistic traits were superimposed.
Buddhist art show the terminal point of the Silk Road transmission of Art during the first few centuries of our era.
Other examples include the development of the iconography of the Japanese Fujin Wind God, the Nio guardians and the near-Classical floral patterns in the temple decorations.

12. Overall Opinion
It’s interesting how philosophies about art and life are remarkably different between traditional Japanese (9th to mid-19th centuries) and Western cultures (19th century). A comparison of aesthetic characteristics offers insight into both world views and what each cultured believed in.

13. Work Cited