2. • Japanese art includes different art styles and media, including
ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting, and calligraphy on silk and
paper, ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints, kiri-e, kirigami,
origami, and more recently manga or the modern Japanese
cartooning and comics.
• The Japanese ukiyo-e genre thrived from the 17th through 19th
centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of
female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers,; scenes from
history and folktales; travel scenes and landscapes; and flora and
fauna.
3. CHARACTERISTICS OF UKIYO-E
1. A well-defined, bold, flat line. The earliest prints were monochromatic but this
characteristics continued to dominate the prints even after the use of color.
2. The arrangement of forms in flat spaces. The figures are arranged in a single plane of
depth like vertical and horizontal relationships, as well as details such as lines, shapes
and patterns such as those on clothing.
3. Compositions were often asymmetrical and the viewpoint was often done from
unusual angles, such as from above.
4. Elements of images were often cropped giving the composition a spontaneous feel. In
colored prints, contours of most areas are sharply defined, usually by the line
5. work.
6. The aesthetic of flat areas of color contrasts with the modulated colors expected in
Western traditions.
4. Evening Snow on the Nurioke, Harunobu
The nurioke was a lacquered wooden
form used for drying silk floss. This print
series parodies a ubiquitous academic
painting subject, the Eight Views of Xiao
and Xiang.
Title: Evening Snow on the Nurioke, from the series Eight
Parlor Views
Artist: Suzuki Harunobu (Japanese, 1725–1770)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: ca. 1766
Culture: Japan
Medium: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: 10 5/8 x 8 1/16 in. (27 x 20.5 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1922
Accession Number: JP1273
5. DEVELOPMENT OF UKIYO-E
1. Sumizuri-e (ink printed pictures) – monochrome printing using only black ink.
2. Benizuri-e (crimson printed pictures) – red ink details or highlights added by hand
after the printing process; green was sometimes used as well.
3. Tan-e – orange highlights using red pigment call tan
4. Aizuri-e (indigo printed pictures)
5. Murasaki-e (purple pictures) and other styles in which a single color was used in
addition to, or instead of, black ink.
6. Urushi-e – a method that thickens the ink with glue, emboldening the image. Printers
often used gold, mica, and other substances to enhance the image further. Urushi-e
also refers to paintings using lacquer instead of paint.
7. Nishiki-e (brocade pictures) – a method of using multiple blocks for separate portions
of the image, using a number of colors to achieve complex and detailed images. A
separate block was carved to apply only the part of the image designated for a single
color.
8. PAINTINGS
• Artists paitned with pigments made from mineral or organic
substances, such as safflower, groung shells, lead, and cinnabar, and
later synthetic dyes imported from the west they painted on silk or
paper hanging scrolls (kakemono), handscrolls (makimono), or folding
screens (byobu).
9. ORIGAMI
• The goal of origami (paper folding) is to transform a sheet of paper into a finished
sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques. Practitioners discourage
cutting, gluing, or markings on the paper. The principles of origami are also used
in stents, packaging, and other engineering applications.
• Traditional origami paper (washi) is used
because it is stronger than ordinary paper.
Washi is made from bark fibers of gampi
tree, the mitsumata shrub, or the paper
mulberry, but it can also be made using
bamboo, hemp, rice, and wheat.
11. 1. ACTION ORIGAMI
• These includes origami that
flies, requires inflation to
complete, or when complete,
uses the kinetic energy of a
person’s hands, applied at a
certain region on the model, to
move another flap or limb
when completed.
12. 2. MODULAR ORIGAMI
• These consists of putting
number of identical pieces
together to form a
complete model.
13. 3. WET FOLDING
• This is a technique for
producing models with gentle
curves rather than geometric
straight folds and flat surfaces.
In this technique, paper is
dampened so it can be
manipulated easily. The final
model keeping its shape when
it dries.
15. 5. NOSHI
• A kind of ceremonial origami
attached to gifts express the
sender’s good wishes. It
consists of white paper folded
with a strip of dried abalone as
a token of good fortune. The
noshi is held together with a
strip of paper or with mizuhiki.
16. KUMADORI
• Sophisticated face painting designs in the world.
• The metamorphosis of a Kabuki actor begins in his makeup. They call it “face
making” or “face preparation” and helps transform them to become living special
effects that help present the story.
FUNCTIONS OF KUMADORI MAKEUP:
1. To capture and project the
expressions of the actor in
enhanced form.
2. To externalize the inner persona of
the role through a design that
responds to the actor’s features.
17. THEATER MASKS
• Noh masks are carved from block of Japanese
cypress and painted with natural pigments on a
neutral base of glue and crunched seashells. These
masks tell the characteristics’ gender, age, and social
ranking and by wearing them, actors can portray old
men and women, youngsters, or nonhuman
characteristics like divine, demon, or animal.
• It can stimulate the imagination of the audience.
• Actors can be able to show emotions through
movements and body language.
18. MANGA
• Manga books or comics are generally
printed in black and white and cover a
variety of genres and subject that appeal to
both sexes and all ages. Themes include
action-adventure, business/commerce,
comedy, detective, historical drama, horror,
mystery, romance, science fiction and
fantasy, sexuality, sports and games, and
suspense, among others. Most manga
aimed for children uses simple style and
adorable characters with big eyes to enable
the artists to convey emotions easily.
19. ANIME
• It differs from manga in its use of color,
movement, and sound especially its
theme song. In japan, manga refers to
all cartooning, comics, and animation.
Outside japan, comics produced from
animation are called ani-manga.
20. • Studio Gibli, founded in 1985,
has produced numerous original
feature films in animated form.
Hayao Miyazaki, a critically
acclaimed animator has created
films which have touched the
hearts of people from all over
the world. His animation style is
very unique because his
characters tend to have small
eyes, rather than the usual trend
for larger eyes and most of his
protagonists are strong
independent girls or women.
