Contents

This is a hierarchical representation of the artform sections on the website. I won't include sections that are empty. Note that the 'thematic routes' section low to the left offers different kinds of routes through the site, and the timeline offers yet another approach - these are not covered on this page, since they don't follow the same hierarchical model.

Jump to:

ARCHITECTURE

CALLIGRAPHY

CERAMICS

COMICS

GARDENS

LACQUERWORK

LITERATURE

MOVIES

PAINTING

POETRY

SCULPTURE

TEA CEREMONY

THEATRE

ARCHITECTURE

• Origins

• Integration with Gardens

• Early Housing

• Tomb Mounds

• Shinto

• What is Shinto Architecture?

• Ise Jingu

• Elements

• Buddhist Temples

• Shitennoji

• Horyuji

• Todaiji

• Byodoin

• Medieval

• Palaces & Villas

• Kinkakuji

• Katsura

• Castles

• Himeji

• Osaka Castle

• Teahouses

• Modern

• Postmodern Appearances

• Why So Exciting?

• Kenzo Tange

• Hiroshi Hara

• Tadao Ando

• Itsuko Hasegawa

• Makoto Sei Watanabe

• Sources

CALLIGRAPHY

• Difficulty

• Importance

• Aesthetics

• Origins

• Imported from China

• Language Types

• Kanji & Kana

• Heian Period

• Hokke Gisho

• Feminine Hand

• Early Books

• Sanjurokunin Kashu

• Lotus Sutra

• Zen

• Nichiren

• Ichijikan

• Maze Writing

• Konoe Nobutada

• Rikyu

• Ikyu Sojun

• Seigan Soi

• Hakuin Ekaku

• Jiun

• Gocho Kankai

• Ryokan

• Hiragana Revival

• Hon'ami Koetsu

• Modern

• Sources

CERAMICS

• Prehistory

• Early Jomon

• Middle Jomon

• Late Jomon

• Terminal Jomon

• Early History

• Yayoi

• Kofun

• Arrival of Korean Potters

• Nara

• Six Ancient Kilns

• Seto

• Tokoname

• Echizen

• Shigaraki

• Tamba

• Bizen

• Tea Ceremony Ceramics

• Shino

• Raku

• Chojiro

• Why So Admired?

• Oribe

• Hon'ami Koetsu

• Karatsu

• Porcelain

• Good Timing

• Styles

• Edo Period

• Kyokaki

• Ogata Kenzan

• Prices

• Modern Ceramics

• Takeda Mokurai

• Mingei Movement

• Kuroemon Kumano

• Takako Araki

• Sources

COMICS

• How Big Are Manga?

• Conventions

• Earning a Living

• Anthologies

• Book Collections

• Reading Speed

• Where to Find Them

• Translations

• Why So Successful?

• Calligraphic Predisposition

• Narrative Art

• Highest Artistic Accomplishments

• Buddhist/Zen Art

• History/Roots

• Subjects

• Romance

• Sex

• Sport

• Samurai

• Horror

• Salaryman

• Osamu Tezuka

• Inspirations

• First Works

• Astro Boy

• Phoenix

• Princess Knight

• Animation

• Work Rate

• Some Works and Creators

• Barefoot Gen

• Lone Wolf & Cub

• The Gateless Barrier

• The Rose of Versailles

• Akira

• What's Michael?

• Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind

• Kamui

• Links With Animation

• Sources

GARDENS

• General Points

• Sakutei-ki, the first book

• Borrowed Scenery

• Standard Elements

• Water

• Rocks

• Plants

• Paradise gardens, for boating

• General Description

• Osawa-no-ike

• Tenryu-ji

• Saiho-ji/Kokedera

• Kinkaku-ji

• Dry gardens, for contemplation

• General Description

• Ryoan-ji

• Joei-ji

• Daisen-in

• Ginkaku-ji

• Tea gardens, as paths

• General Description

• Artlessness

• Fushin-an

• Rikyu

• Furuta Oribe

• Strolling Gardens

• General Description

• Shugaku-in

• Daichi-ji

• Katsura

• Joju-en

• Courtyard Gardens

• Modern Gardens

• Tofuku-ji

• Flower Arranging

• Early History

• Rikka

• Shoka

• Rikyu

• Modern

• Sources

LACQUERWORK

• Technical

• What Is Lacquer?

• How Is It Used?

• Cores

• Colours

• Varieties of techniques

• Styles

• History

• Objects

• Inro

• Origins

• Fashion

• Men/Women

• Sumptuary Laws

• Decline

• Technical

• Craft

• Materials

• Artistry

• Writing Boxes

• Incense Boxes

• Tea Ware

• Palanquins

• Pipe Cases

• Saddles

• Combs

• Artists

• Difficulties of Attribution

• Hon'ami Koetsu

• Ogata Korin

• Kajikawa family

• Koma Family

• Tsuchida Soetsu

• Ogawa Haritsu

• Toyo Iizuka

• Shibata Zeshin

• Zeshin's Finest Set of Inro

• Zeshin the Painter

• Sources

LITERATURE

• Ancient

• Kojiki

• Nihon Shoki

• Jogu Shotoku Hooteisetsu

• Heian

• Literacy and Script

• Diaries

• The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon

• The Tale of Genji

• Medieval

• Heike Monogatori

• Buddhist Stories

• Other Writing

• Edo

• Changes

• Types of Writing

• Jippensha Ikku

• Hyaku monogatori

• Modern

• General Points

• Natsume Soseki

• Shiga Naoya

• Jun'ichiro Tanizaki

• Ryunosuke Akutagawa

• Kawabata Yasunari

• Shusaku Endo

• Kobo Abe

• Yukio Mishima

• Kenzaburo Oe

• Haruki Murakami

• Banana Yoshimoto

• Hitomi Kanehara

• Sources

MOVIES

• General Points

• My Difficulties

• Presentation/Representation

• Modernism

• Western Movies

• Actors

• History

• Silent Movies

• Censorship

• Genres

• General Notes

• Samurai

• Horror

• Anime

• Films

• An Actor's Revenge

• Ikiru

• In The Realm Of The Senses

• Portrait of Hell

• Rashomon

• Rikyu

• Samurai Trilogy

• Seven Samurai

• Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis

• Directors

• Yasujiro Ozu

• Zen?

• Experimental?

• Kenji Mizoguchi

• Akira Kurosawa

• Japanese or Western?

• His Actors

• Kon Ichikawa

• Nagisa Oshima

• Hiroshi Teshigahara

• Kinji Fukasaku

• Takashi Miike

• Hiyao Miyazaki

• Sources

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PAINTING

• General Comments

• Zen

• Chinese Influence

• Western Influence

• Formats

• Media

• Narrative

• Links to Calligraphy/Poetry

• Realism

• Portraiture

• Critical Criteria

• Masters & Pupils

• Early Painting

• Tombs

• Buddhist Painting

• Tamamushi Shrine

• Horyuji Murals

• E-ingakyo

• Shingon Mandala

• Haya Raigo

• Shigisan Engi scroll

• Choju Giga Scrolls

• Jigoku-Zoshi scroll of hell

• Yamai no Soshi scroll of diseases

• Court Painting

• Genji Scrolls

• Lotus Sutra

• Portrait of the First Shogun

• Zen Painting

• Zen Painting ~1200-1600

• Zen Painting After 1600

• Subjects

• Chinzo

• Shigajiku

• Landscapes

• Haboku Painting

• Daruma

• Nantembo's Darumas

• Hotei

• Enso

• Begging Monks

• Monkeys

• Bamboo

• Artists

• Mokuan

• Gyokuen Bonpo

• Shubun

• Sesshu

• Sesshu: Landscapes

• Sesshu: Two More Landscapes

• Sesshu: Haboku

• Sesson Shukei

• Sesson's Gibbons

• Fugai

• Musashi Miyamoto aka Niten

• Miyamoto Musashi the Fighter

• Hakuin

• Sengai

• Nantembo

• Schools of Art

• Kano

• Organisation

• Kano Masanobu

• Kano Motonobu

• Kano Eitoku

• Kano Tan'yu

• Tosa

• Tosa Mitsunobu

• Tosa Mitsuyoshi

• Hasegawa

• Hasegawa Tohaku's Monkeys

• Rimpa, aka 'Decorative'

• Hon'ami Koetsu

• Tawaraya Sotatsu

• The Ogata Brothers

• Ogata Korin

• Ogata Korin, The Prankster

• Nanga, aka Literati

• Yosa Buson

• Ike Taiga

• Tani Buncho

• Uragami Gyokudo

• Maruyama-Shijo

• Maruyama Okyo

• Soga Shuhako

• Nagasawa Rosetsu

• Ito Jakuchu

• Printmaking

• Origins

• Demographic shifts

• Ukiyo-e

• Technical

• The Cutter

• Hokusai on engraver Yegawa Tomekiti

• The Printer

• Fading

• Subjects

• Beautiful women

• Sex

• Pleasure Quarters

• Places

• Places: Hiroshige vs Hokusai on Realism

• Kabuki

• Birds & Flowers

• Mitate-e

• Uses

• Artists

• Moronobu

• Masanobu

• Shunsho

• Sharaku

• Utamaro

• Hokusai

• Hokusai: Two Contests

• Hiroshige

• Yoshitoshi

• Influence on the West

• Henri Riviere

• Modern Painting

• Sources

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POETRY

• Apology

• Importance

• Form

• The Japanese Language

• Elements of Poetry

• Ancient

• Man'yoshu

• Kokinshu

• Shinkokinshu

• Hyakunin-isshu

• Contests

• Renga

• Sogi

• Buddhist Poetry

• Haiku

• Form

• Structure

• Content

• Importance

• Basho

• Buson

• Issa

• Shiki

• Sources

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SCULPTURE

• Early Sculpture

• Mid-Jomon

• Terminal Jomon

• Haniwa

• Buddhist Sculpture

• Shiba Tori

• Nara Period

• Todaiji Buddha

• Jocho

• Sanjusangen

• Unkei School

• Unkei

• Tankei

• Portrait Sculpture

• Enku

• Productivity Tricks

• Netsuke

• Modern Sculpture

• Takamura Koun

• Isamu Noguchi

• Masayuki Nagare

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TEA CEREMONY

• History

• Early

• Feasts and Competitions

• Shuko

• Rikyu

• Importance

• Politics & Economics

• Aesthetics

• Death

• Influence, Descendants, Schools

• Implements & Setting

• Architecture & Gardens

• Equipment

• What Happens

• Sources

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THEATRE

• Noh

• Origins

• Zeami

• Form

• Impenetrability

• Acting

• Characters

• Dialogue

• Style

• Kabuki

• Origins

• Style

• Chikamatsu Monzaemon

• Chushingura

• Ichikawa Dynasty

• Bunraku

• Other Forms

• Sources