Storytelling Techniques Employed by the Artist - Research Paper Example

? Storytelling Techniques Introduction Visual arts are one of the most expressive forms of depicting ideas to the world. Sincethe inception of human race, pictorial depiction of events has remained the legacy. Initially, the inception of arts in Japan came through China. The literary aspect in the Japanese civilization was because of the efforts done by the Chinese scholars and think-tank. Most of the prior arts and designing of Japan had Chinese touch in them. The evident differentiation started off from the 17th and 19th Century. However fortification in Japanese arts work started from the 14th Century.1 The Japanese culture is enriched with the calligraphic content and most of their events are portrayed through this medium. The Japanese hand scrolls have great historic perspective too because they elaborate earlier noteworthy events. The categorization of artists is apparent by observing the piece of arts. Every artist has its separate elegant design which distinguishes him from others. Genji Monogatari Emaki is 12th century scroll of the Japanese literature. It is basically pictorial depiction of The Tale of Genji that was written in the 11th Century. The tale reveals about orthodox Japanese cultural stream. It illustrates about the livings of courtiers in the Heian regime. The significance of the tale can be marked as it is known as the first written novel of the world. The scroll has immense following because of its nobility and tremendous depiction.2 The artist’s instinct in the scrolls has sizeable meaning. Unfortunately scrolls are divided and the full version is not present. They are considered as the National Treasure of Japan and preserved in two museums of Japan.3 The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the storytelling methodology applied in the scrolls. How were the designing and dimensions set by the artist, and what makes them significant. The atmosphere evident in the scrolls will be also discussed along with the characters emotional aspect. The objective is to get the authentic idea behind this arts masterpiece. Designing In the 12th Century, Takayoshi’s artworks were most prominent and renowned. He carried out special way of representing events which made him ingenious. The special ways of Takayoshi’s work were to bring emotional aspect into the pictures, always present human face from 30 degree angle and indulge the viewer through spectacular depiction. Takayoshi believed that while designing scrolls, artist should be sensitively attached to work. This would produce the scroll worth watching.4 The Genji Monogatari Emaki was believed to be the works of Takayoshi but after prior research findings it was deemed that Takayoshi was not the man behind this masterpiece. The authentication of artist in designing Genji Monogatari Emaki is inexplicable. However the methods of designing predict that some student or apprentice of Takayoshi has built them. The special theme carried to make the pictures portrays neatness and finest in the designing phase. The style implied in the scrolls is deemed as ‘tsukuri-e’. This style of pictorial presentation was mostly used to make women paintings previously.5 The eminent features such as styles and pictorial depictions made it certain that Takayoshi’s connection prevails in the work. The four basic steps in the designing phase; the first is choosing of scenes from monogatari. It means that selecting important and significant scenes from the tale which have magnitude and virtue. Viewers can recall the story or can picture it by themselves after reviewing scrolls. The second is black and white scenes execution. Before the designing of any scroll, rough image is created by the designer to check the flow of drawing. The execution through black and white is basically that phase. The third step includes addition of pigments to the drawing. It means that after the artist figures out that black and white drawn image is suitable for further processing; colors and pigments are added to the scroll to make it presentable. The final step is the mixing of black lines with ink to make the work prominent. The notion behind this action is that after the addition of colors and pigments, the original black lines might wade away. By doing this so, the image would be more visible and worth watching. The basic intend of the painting remained to show the set of events that occurred in the Tale of Genji. The designing of scrolls had unsurpassed classical element which is highly esteemed in the artists’ community. The use of ink with original lining is the toughest part of the work but scroll painter made it possible.6 Depictions The depictions of Genji Monogatari Emaki tell the core characteristics of the story. These characteristics have immense magnitude and picture. “Hikime kagibana" and "Fukinuki yatai" are the pictorial techniques used by the artists. The neatness in pictures present bird’s eye views so that the viewer would know exactly what’s going on. The meaning of pictorial techniques used are "line for an eye, hook for a nose" and “blown away roof” respectively. The use of both techniques is found in all the art pieces which make them distinguished. The interesting features of the scroll are that there is not a single picture of the person with full front view. The human face side is only shown, not the full face. The major focus of artist remained on nose and eyes of the human body.7 The dimensions of the face are set precisely according to the angle of 30 degree. This makes the work precise and accurate because all the pictures of humans are designed in the same manner. No fundamental or artistic flaw can be found because of accuracy in work. While reading ‘The tale of Genji’ every person makes image about characters in his mind. The dominance of those characters dance around the boundaries of mind until and unless pictorial depictions are not seen by him. The scrolls are designed to evacuate the gap as unrealistic preview is presented in them.8 The ambiguities and misleading blurry pictures in the human mind are vanished after watching this masterpiece work. Characters Emotions The emotional element in the drawings is manifest to create strong bonding of the viewer with scrolls. The faces of people in the scrolls are not shown in full but still the emotions prevailing in them are magnificent. The pictures are made in such a manner that gap eyes and brow, nose angle and lips demonstrate the emotional myth going on. By observing the scrolls, every individual can figure out the emotional aspect in them. The portrayal of emotions is simply outstanding as it is difficult to figure out the emotional essence in scrolls. Small and tiny particles of the story are depicted in the scroll. The jealousy and envy feeling of the woman is shown by making strong eye brows and slightly down eyes. These characters of the scroll make them highly speak out loud.9 Kagerou’s emotional scene at Lady Murasame’s death One of the important characters of the story, Lady Murasame’s death scene can be found in the scroll where Kagerou’s emotions reaches zenith. Lady Murasame and her sister both died while diving. Their ghosts are revealed by the praying monk. The monk prays for the forgiveness of their souls by visiting their graves. Lady Murasame’s role is much more significant as she escorts monk in his upcoming endeavors. Kagerou is the religious monk who pays his condolences on the death of Lady Murasame. This scene is highly esteemed in the artistic cells as it terrifically shows the bonding of human beings with each others. Grief and sorrow aspects are palpable and unmistakably shown. Any individual can observe this rationale and can comment about this specific scenario. The tilt faces were shown to articulate expressions of humans while conversing. The change in expressions can be found in different scenario according to the situation. The human emotion segment was portrayed through autumn grass too and correlation building with grass is solely impressive.10 ‘Yadorigi gi’ emotional attachment scenes The feeling of love is showed in the above scroll. This is basically taken from the ‘yadorigi gi’ chapter of The Tale of Genji. The bonding of mother with the child is apparent. The emotional bonding of children with parents is at pinnacle during their childhood and the artist tried to portray the image precisely. The ‘yadorigi gi’ chapter of the original story discusses the pragmatic constituents that build up relationship of love between individuals. Lady Murasame and her sister loved their mother and protected each other in difficult times. Their mother always wanted them to stay healthy and happy. The above portrayed scene converse about the emotional love bonding between them. Conclusion It is quite difficult to present the main idea of the story in pictorial depiction and making strong associations of it with the original content. The scrolls represent ‘The tale of Genji’ correctly and in its true spirits. The artist must be applauded for this spectacular work of arts. The designing, depictions and emotional attachments are presented marvelously and the skillfulness of artist behind this work is stated by the viewers. Keeping in mind the four steps of creating this magnum opus, there is not even a single loophole on which the artist can be caught as the main content of the story is rightly presented. Moreover Takayoshi’s hand was confirmed by the initial researchers but later research proved that Takayoshi was not the man behind these scrolls. However the artist, whoever he was had great ties with Takayoshi. The premise of Takayoshi’s sort of work can be seen in the drawings. The characters are revealed in the state of their emotional indulgence. There are various scrolls in which the emotional aspect is highly regarded. The main aspect remains that storytelling technique applied in the painting are highly superlative. The man behind these paintings had in-depth knowledge about the characters of the tale and made exactly the figures that would blow away an individual’s mind. The creation of images in an individual’s mind after going through the story can be sighted in the scrolls. References Hirota, Akiko. "The Tale of Genji: From Heian Classic to Heisei Comic," The Journal of Popular Culture 31, no. 2 (1997): 29-68. Masayoshi, F. S. Satake, Japan: Examples of History and Culture. Mirzoeff, N. (2002). The visual culture reader, London: Routledge Murase, Miyeko, and Mitsuoki Tosa, The tale of Genji: legends and paintings. George Braziller, 2001. Okudaira, Hideo. Emaki. Bijutsu Shuppan-sha, 1957. Rowley, G. G. "Making a Living from Genji: Yosano Akiko and Her Work on The Tale of Genji." Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese (1991): 27-44. Shimizu, Yoshiaki. "The Rite of Writing: Thoughts on the Oldest Genji Text." RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 16 (1988): 54-63. Read More

 

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