Japanese Culture Mount Fuji

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Japanese CultureMount Fuji
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Samurai sword
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Samurai

• Professional Japanese warriors who swore absolute
  loyalty to their overlord and practiced BUSHIDO
  or THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR, a code of behavior
  based on honor.
• Ronin were unemployed Samurai.

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Samurai Armor
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Shogun-Military leader of Japan

• Tokugawa Ieyas (1542-1616) was one of the first
  and most powerful Shoguns. His rule began 265
  years of peace.
• This is his armor. If a bird doesnt sing, Ill
  wait for it to sing.

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• A samurai's principles were
• loyalty to his master
• self discipline
• respectful/ethical behavior
• if defeated or dishonored, a samurai should
  commit ritual suicide - seppuku

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Shintoism-National Religion of Japan
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Shinto -The Way of the Spirits

• Has no founder or sacred texts.
• Evolved from a belief in nature spirits, called
  KAMI. Kami are worshipped and can take the form
  of natural objects (mountains, wind, rain) or
  abstract things like goodness or fertility,
  ancestors or national heros.
• Kami can be anything that inspires awe or
  reverence.

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• Chief God is the Sun Goddess.
• Man is seen as inherently good and pure, who is
  corrupted by outside influences
• Shintoism - natural state of the cosmos is one of
  harmony - divine, natural, and human elements are
  all intimately related.

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Kabuki Theatre

• Kabuki was begun by a shrine maiden named Okuni
  in the 17th century.
• Kabuki combines music, dance and song with
  beautiful costumes.
• All parts are played by men.
• Plays are about the historical Edo period
  (1600-1800s).

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Noh Drama

• Very formal and stylized, Noh is also performed
  by men.
• Masks represent various emotions and characters
  vengeful ghost, holy man, warrior, lady, etc.

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Noh Stage
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Noh mask
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!Really Scary! )
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• Noh is very unrealistic-for ex., the passage of
  years might be shown by the movement of a fan.
• Frequently there are only 2 main characters, a
  restless ghost and a wandering priest.

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Bonsai Trees

• The art of growing dwarf trees in shallow pots.
• Brought to Japan by Zen Buddhist monks, the art
  is very symbolic.
• Tree is planted to one side (asymmetrical)
  because the center is where heaven earth meet
  and must remain empty.
• The tree symbolizes the unity between God, man,
  and nature.

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Tea Ceremony

• Cha no yu or Tea Ceremony is a very intricate
  ritual that evolved. Zen monks brought green tea
  to Japan from China.
• The wars between various clans caused much
  animosity. The tea ceremony evolved to bring a
  moment of peace and harmony between people. The
  ritual must be conducted with no mistakes.

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Haiku poetry

• Brief, unrhymed poem, 3 lines long
• 1st line has 5 syllables
• 2nd line has 7 syllables
• 3 line has 5 syllables
• Haikus present simple images and moods, sort of a
  snapshot of a moment.

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Spring departs.Birds cryFishes' eyes are filled
with tears
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Japanese gardens

• In contrast to the geometrically arranged plants
  of a Western-style garden, the Japanese garden
  creates a scenic composition that mimics nature.
• It was once believed that any place surrounded by
  stones was inhabited by the gods.

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• Garden designers followed 3 basic principles
• reduced scale - nature in miniature
• symbolization - white sand symbolizes water
• borrowed views - using views outside the garden
  (mountains, for example)

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Two main styles

• Tsukiyama (wet style) - small hills and stones
  rep. Mountains pond rep. Ocean
• Karensasui (dry style) influenced by Zen
  Buddhism - white sand ocean, stones hills

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Karensasui - dry garden
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Zen Buddhism

• Emphasized meditation, concentration and
  self-discipline as the way to enlightenment.
• Samurai were attracted to Zen because of its
  simplicity and self-discipline and applied it to
  the martial arts.
• Zen monks try to confuse their students at first,
  to teach them to abandon pre-conceived ideas.
• Koans-a subject to meditate upon usually a
  paradoxical statement to test enlightenment.

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Koans-Zen exercises

• What is the sound of 1 hand clapping?
• A monk asked Ummon, What is Buddha? Ummon
  answered him Dried dung. This teaches
  non-differentiation (everything is one), even
  lowly dung. It also is a good testing koan, to
  see who can tell the difference between Buddhism
  and a piece of crap.

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Ukiyo-e pictures of the floating world

• Japanese paintings of the floating world
  pleasure district of Edo. These are unique
  creations of the Edo period in Japan.

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