In the 7th century Korean and Chinese artists had emigrated to Japan, and many Buddhist priests were quite conversant with the fine arts. Buddhism had rapidly spread from India, through Central Asia to China, and then to Korea. Thus early Japanese Buddhist ecclesiastical art was tinged with Indian sculptural influences as well as decorative designs. Japanese style and influence in lacquer art had not as yet developed. In the early Heian period (794-889) new Buddhist sects were introduced into Japan. These various sects opened their own workshops, utilizing lacquer artists for the temples and their hierarchies of gods. By the late Heian period, with temporary loss of contact with China, ecclesiastical art saw the true beginnings of its own national art forms and characteristics. In general, designs of the arts changed from the stiff, symmetrical, conventionalized arabesque and religious type of Chinese motifs to the lighter, more asymmetrical, more artistically ornamental Japanese style expressing rhythm, movement, and more typical Japanese subject matter. This change was not only reflected in ecclesiastical art but also in secular art, which had begun to emerge—as, for example, in the beginnings of the Yamato-e school of painting. Similarly, makie and raden techniques developed and were used not only for Buddhist art but also on household articles and furnishings. It should be noted, however, that many of the early Chinese diaper designs, conventionalized bird and animal forms, and arabesque patterns are used to this very day in Japanese lacquer art, but usually as a means of background or fringe decorative element supplementing the main pictorial motif. This contrasts with early Chinese carved lacquer, which used such designs usually as the central motif itself in an elegant but more formal symmetrical manner. The significance of Buddhist art was not simply the fact that Buddhism patronized the arts and that early Japanese subject matter was mainly Buddhist, but rather that the aesthetic concepts formulated by these newly adopted sects, ingrained in the Oriental mind, were naturally projected into the art forms. For example, the principle that all living things are endowed with spirit (and are therefore fit subjects for artistic portrayal) is part of the Buddhist philosophy of the transmigration of souls. The insignificance and transience of man along with the grandeur and infiniteness of nature similarly reflects Buddhist thought. The religious aspects toward nature are commonly depicted, represented often by a tiny insignificant human figure portrayed against awe-inspiring large rocky landscapes or a small hut tucked away in large rising mountain ranges.
The Japanese absorbed not only Buddhist philosophy but also the associated iconography, mythology, and symbolism. All of these factors became transformed into Japanese thinking and customs and of course secondarily into art expression. A considerable part of the subject matter of Oriental art centers about religion. This includes portrayal of the various gods themselves as well as portrayal of the various legendary (mythological) stories about them. Similarly represented, especially to the delight of the imaginative and expressive Japanese artisan, are Buddhist concepts of hell with its fierce demonology. This subject matter represented direct portrayal of Buddhist religion, but of greater significance are the offshoots of Buddhist art and subject matter representing aesthetic and philosophical concepts engendered by Buddhism. An example already noted is the Buddhist concept of nature and its subjects. Zen Buddhism stressed the importance of meditation in the presence of nature, out of which evolved the typical Japanese garden. Similarly the art of the tea ceremony, the tokonoma, and the symbolic art of flower arrangement were offshoots of Zen Buddhism. The tea ceremony in turn led to the development of tea utensils, including lacquer ware, metal ware, and pottery. The basic simplicity of Zen philosophy was reflected in the concepts of Zen art, and complicated iconography and religious sculpture was rejected by Zen Buddhism, which had become the official religion of the court. Chinese monochrome brush-stroke painting, applying to Zen philosophy, resulted in simple artistic paintings, expressing the painter's meditative enlightenment concerning the inner essence of various aspects of nature. This simple economy and strength of stroke and the elimination of ornamental detail to express the "inner truth" of the subject rather than photographic accuracy are still considered by the Oriental connoisseur as the quintessence of art in its purest form. This principle applied as well to the pottery and lacquer ware of the Zen tea ceremony. The pottery, such as Raku ware, was purposely simple, crude, and muted. Similarly, lacquer trays and tea jars were of the simplest effective designs done in subtle, soft, muted tones. This spirit was reflected in other lacquer articles made during these times, such as incense boxes.
With the complete popularization of the arts by the Edo period, portrayal of religious subjects was replaced to a great degree by portrayal of secular subjects; yet the aesthetic artistic principles based on Buddhist philosophy remained in these purely Japanese artistic creations. It is only with a basic knowledge of these concepts, along with an understanding of the previously mentioned principles of Oriental art, that true appreciation and critical evaluation of Japanese art can be achieved.
Influences of the Feudal System
The Japanese feudal system provided an almost ideal means for a development of the fine arts in which commercialism played absolutely no part. Briefly, the feudal system in Japan consisted of a balance of power, both economic and military, between groups of clans,. The stress upon hereditary rights and ancestor worship not only perpetuated powerful families or clans in an economic and political sense but also was responsible for the development of the artisan class and long family lines of lacquer artists. Japan was ruled basically by four powerful factions:
1) the imperial household, including the emperor and the court nobility: descendants of the founders of the Yamato Province of the 7th century b.c.
2) the military government (bakufu or shogunate) headed by the shogun, or generalissimo, first established in Kamakura in A.D. 1192.
3) the local shugo (high constables), who ruled through the shogunate the local provinces or fiefs (kuni). (The local military leaders, or daimyo, were descendants of the shugo and developed independent power by the 15th century a.d.)
4) the various economically and militarily powerful Buddhist sects, which hired their own mercenaries.
Historically, the Japanese feudal system evolved as follows: Japan was initially inhabited by numerous clans which ultimately came under the military control of one clan whose authority was centered in Yamato in the 7th century b.c., thus instituting the first emperor and the beginnings of the imperial household. By 71 b.c. the ruling emperor had allocated fiefs or provinces (kuni) to 77 of his children, marking the beginning of feudal land distribution in Japan. Shintoism, the religion of Japan at this time, basically professed that everything in nature was equally divine (kami) and that the imperial family was an intermediary between the spirits and the people. By the 7th century A.D. Japan was divided into provinces which were owned by different clans. During this period Buddhism was introduced. The imperial capital was moved to Nara in 710 and to Heian-kyo in 794. The local militarily powerful clans, such as the Soga and subsequently the Fujiwara family, often directly or indirectly controlled the imperial family. Meanwhile, newly introduced Buddhist sects also gained economic, political, and military power by hiring mercenaries. Much of the land was owned through a system of absentee landlords who were descendants of the court nobility. In order to protect their property, mercenaries were hired, so that by the 11th century there arose the military class (bushi), War between the powerful clans broke out, the final conflict occurring between the Taira or Heike and the Minamoto or Genji. The latter ultimately gained ascendancy in 1185 and initiated the Kamakura period (1185-1392), the military government being set up in Kamakura. The head of this military government was the shogun, or generalissimo, and thus was established the bakufu, or shogunate government. The shogun appointed members of his own clan to rule the local provinces. These were known as shugo (high constables), although the tight of administration was theoretically still in the hands of the court-appointed governors.
The Muromachi or Ashikaga period (1392-1573) was marked by continued strife between the emperor and such powerful clans as the Ashikaga. Meanwhile the shugo increased their local military power and became autonomous beyond the control of the shogunate or the imperial house. They became known as daimyo (dai, great; myo, name). Art now continued to flourish under the patronage of the