| NOTA |
(★)(The emergence of a painting style that fully expressed the native genius of the Japanese people --this significant development in the history of Japanese art is the subject of the present book. In eighth- and ninth-century Japan, Chinese cultural influences were very strong, particularly in the sphere of painting. As a result ´kara-e (Chinese painting)´, with its distinctly Chinese subject matter, dominated Japanese art. Then, in the mid-ninth century, there came a strong reaction in the form of a purely national style of painting called ´yamato-e (Japanese painting)´. Instead of producing only paintings based on Chinese landscapes, personages, and legends, Japanese artists now rediscovered the world around them and began to celebrate their own land and past in a style of their own devising. The sliding panels and portable screens in the homes of the Heian-period aristocracy blossomed with scenes of famous Japanese landscapes and evocations of the ever changing, subtly rich four seasons that have always appealed so strongly to the nature-loving Japanese. Literature, such as romances like The Tale of Genji and ´sutras´, occupied much of the time of the Heian nobility. And the illustrations accompanying this literature, too, began to be more and more Japanese in flavor. During the succeeding Kamakura period [1185-1336], the Yamato style reached its full flowering, seen particularly well in the abundance of picture scrolls that yet remain. These works, which are great art as well as important historical documents, reveal an astonishing variety of Japanese subject matter. Besides the landscapes and seasonal paintings, they also show local festivals, manners and customs, glimpses of early architecture, and the people´s joys in this life and fears of the afterlife. This book, abundantly illustrated with 158 photographs, of which 43 are in full color, traces the story of the Yamato style from its aristocratic Heian beginnings to its development during military rule in Kamakura times and its influence on later art forms. ◆Saburo Ienaga was born in 1913 and graduated from Tokyo University, where he also acquired his doctor´s degree in literature. A well-known authority on the history of yamato-e, he has also written profusely on this and related cultural subjects. Professor Ienaga has lectured at a number of Japanese universities and now serves at the Tokyo University of Education.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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