Japan is a country in which, traditionally, each social class–the aristocracy, the samurai and the merchant–has had its own type of art. We will examine each in turn, beginning with 12th century hand-scrolls that depict the customs, costumes, transportation and other aspects of the aristocratic lifestyle. The samurai culture will be revealed through such elements as the tea ceremony, the Zen garden and the Kano school of painting. And the merchant culture will be reflected in the form of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings, which rose to popularity in the 1600s and have become familiar to American audiences through such works as “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.” From such images, we’ll discover, we may learn as much about a country’s traditions as about its terrain. This is a repeat of the Fall 2013 course.
