Visual Arts of Japan-Shinto Art - Term Paper Example

Visual Arts of Japan-Shinto Art Shinto, also “the way of the gods, is the Japanese people’s indigenous faith, whose age is just as old as the Japanese people themselves. Shinto is the majority religion in Japan along with Buddhism. Shinto as a religion evolved from the belief in a deity that is also known as Kami (Aizns?t?adt? 32). The Shinto adherents believe that the Kami inhabit the Japanese landscape in the waterfalls, rivers, and mountains. People who are revered in their culture also become Kamis, including their ancestors. These Kamis are incorporated into Shinto art, with their shrine complexes containing inner sanctums that they place the sacred art objects that are referent to the Kamis. In Shinto religion rituals, the adherents invite the power or force of the Kami, to enter a natural formation, for example, rivers and mountains or enter the sacred art objects. In these festivals and ceremonies, the artifact containing the Kami is taken out into the human community from the shrine and returned after the ceremony is over. The Shinto annual rituals are observant of the Japanese agricultural cycle and, as such, their art is reflective of the forces that affect agriculture (Boscaro 11). This includes the planting of rice and its harvesting. Because of this, the Kami’s are offered the rice harvest and the beer made from rice, sake. These ceremonies, also called Masturi in Japanese, started as religious rituals, which, to date, continue to hold a special place in the Japanese calendar. The Aoi Masturi in Kyoto is observed as a thanksgiving festival that is meant to appease the god of thunder and the goddess of water. The objects used in these ceremonies are referent to the two deities (Boscaro 11). The celebration is marked through a procession carrying these deities from the main shrines of the Kamis to the imperial palace and back, accompanied by prayers for significant harvests of rice, which sees the deities related to harvest represented by various art forms. The shrines that the Shinto use for worship sites and many other areas of worship are marked by gates, also called torii in Japanese, and they are used to indicate the entrance to the area where the Shinto believe their Kamis reside (Boscaro 13). The sacred areas are also indicated by the use of ropes from rice straws that are wrapped, for example, on a sacred tree trunk. The Japanese imperial family is a vital player in the Shinto religion and rituals and the Shinto believe that the sun goddess, the Amaterasu was the imperial line’s first ancestor. For this reason, she is one of the most significant artistic representation in Shinto art, represented even on the Japanese flag (Boscaro 13). Shinto religion has no founder; neither does it possess any sacred scriptures like western religions, for example, the Bible or the Sutra, with preaching and propaganda not as common because of the deep roots that the Shinto have in the traditions of the Japanese people. Because of this, the most enduring aspects of the religion are preserved by the art practiced by the Shinto (Boscaro 16). The sun goddess, Amaterasu is the most important Kami in Shinto Japan and, as such, is the most represented. The goddess’ mirror is found in the island of Honshu’s Ise shrine and is one of three regalia used by the imperial line along with the jewel and the sword. It is believed that Amaterasu endowed these objects to Ningi, her grandson, when the goddess sent him, to rule over the islands of Japan (Boscaro 17). Sussano, her brother is depicted as the god of the sea in Shinto art with a temperamental and difficult character. While visiting Amaterasu one day, he released colts all over her rice field and destroyed her crops. He went ahead to desecrate her home via smashing a hole into her sewing room’s roof and throwing in a colt’s skin. Amaterasu became furious and retreated into a cave, blocking its entrance with a rock, which caused the entire world to plunge into darkness. Desperate to restore sunlight to earth, the other gods, came up with a plan to lure her out of the cave. They dug up a tree with five hundred branches, adorned it with jewels and hanged a mirror on the branches. They then sent a young goddess to dance outside the cave and made Amaterasu curious enough and peeked outside, after which she caught her reflection in the mirror and, in her surprise, was caught by a strong god, restoring light. This mirror is one of Shinto art’s most revered artifacts (Boscaro 18). The ancient people of Japan found divinity as manifested in nature, as the above story of Amaterasu shows. Venerable trees, flowing rivers, and flowering peaks, for example, were thought to be sanctified by Kamis who lived in them. Shinto is a multifaceted assembly of institutions, attitudes and practices that are passed on to generations via word of mouth and artifacts. Their oldest ceremonies were religious and put an emphasis on ritual purity. In the beginning, the worshippers held their ceremonies in outdoor areas that they proclaimed as sacred. However, over time, the Shinto began to build permanent structures that were meant to honor their Kamis (Casselberry 67). These shrines were built on mountainsides or unlevel ground in the rural areas. These shrines were not symmetrically planned in the real sense. The anthropomorphic representation of the gods in Shinto Japan was not known before the coming of Buddhism, even though they believed in deities, which they symbolically associated with religious artifacts (Casselberry 67). As pointed out, the most important of these were the jewels, the mirror and the sword that became insignias all over Shinto Japan. As the new religion became more dominant, the Shinto began the creation of images, although they did not alter their form of worship. The Shinto artwork is fascinating in its significant difference from the art practiced in the western world. The medium used for the art, as well as the subject matter are very different, including the caricatures (Casselberry 68). The images drawn by the Shinto are much simpler than images from the western world, with carefully detailed elements that retained their simplicity. All the pieces also seem to have a sense of meditation that flows through them. While the effects have been subtle, Japanese art in general has been affected by Shinto religion to a large extent. The Shinto sense of culture, history and community has affected entire generations of Japanese art (Casselberry 69). This has been because the country, despite being opened to western religions, has had two major religions since the sixth century. While most Japanese art is not used specifically for religious purposes, it still carries with it a feeling of being representative of Shinto’s culturally spiritual history. The art of folding paper, also known as origami art, utilizes a special kind of paper referred to as washi (Christine & Haruki 19). The paper was originally utilized for religious works and scriptures by the Buddhists, as well as for Shinto rituals. In Shinto, it is mandatory to wrap gifts to the deities in these papers. In time, this ancient form of Shinto art has become a mainstay of Japanese culture, popular across all generations. Many of the paper sheets can be decorated in a similar way to that which Kimonos are decorated. While the Shinto could make may shapes, and animals from origami art, it is clear that the crane was the most popular figure as it had added significance. The Shinto considered the crane as a mystical and holy creature, and it became integrated into Shinto art over time as a symbol for peace (Christine & Haruki 19). The Shinto have a legend that any person who can fold one thousand paper cranes automatically has a wish granted to them by a crane. This, they believed, actually resulted in recovery from serious diseases and resulted in long life. The Shinto considers the collections of the crane artworks as a sign of luck by and, as such, they are given as wedding gifts. As earlier contended, Shinto art is deeply rooted in nature, which explains why most shrines are built in natural and remote areas (Christine & Haruki 27). Shinto art is focused on ancestry and heritage, with most of it being expressed through dance, music, calligraphy, Noh Theater and shrine architecture. The architectural gateway that is erected to guard the shrines, also called torii, is normally made of wood that is painted orange or black. Most shrines have dance performances and Noh Theatre stages. The traditional Shinto dress for women, the Kimono, has been replaced by a more western dress, although the handcrafted robes are worn for special occasions still. The Kimono, created from silk with solid dyed colors or beautiful natural scenes, are expensive to buy, especially given their quality and man-hours required (Christine & Haruki 29). The entry of Buddhism into Japan in the early sixth century from mainland China had a profound effect on most aspects of Japanese Shinto art up until the 16th century (Moeran 8). The two religions, despite earlier conflicts, became intertwined, resulting in art taking a more hybrid nature. This brought with it new religious art such as screens, scriptures, pottery, prints, calligraphy, ink paintings, and illustrations on books. While Shinto did not take to representing their gods graphically before, they did introduce iconography as they depicted images of their deities. During the 1185 to 1333 era of Kamakura, Zen Buddhism had a significant effect on the direction of Shinto Japan culture and art in particular. The art gained a new focus on the nature and serenity, which can be viewed via the architecture and calligraphy from this period. Japanese Shinto art offers up a significant impression of Japan’s landscape and culture (Moeran 9). The art that children are exposed to is meant to offer them an escape, as far as imagination is concerned, to a separate world. For adults, Shinto art gives them a look into their history, as well as their culture and religion. Works Cited Aizns?t?adt?, S?emu?'e?l Noah?. Japanese civilization : a comparative view. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press , 2011. Print. Boscaro, Adriana. Rethinking Japan. London: Routledge , 2011. Print. Casselberry, Elane. Japanese Culture. Charlestown: BiblioBazaar, 2011. Print. Christine, Guth & Haruki, Kageyama. The arts of Shinto. New York : Weatherhill, 2011. Print. Moeran, Brian. Folk art of Japan : beyond an anthropology of aesthetics. Honolulu : Univ. Press of Hawaii, 2012. Print. Read More