The last major Chinese influence on Japanese art relates to subject matter. There are strict specific laws adopted from the Chinese painters for portraying various subjects down to the minutest details, including the actual sequence of each stroke. These techniques were adopted by the Japanese painters along with some secondary influences upon the lacquer artists. For example, there are 18 different ways (laws) of depicting the lines and folds of a garment. Thus the robes of "elevated personages" are portrayed by the fine "floating silk thread line" (ko-ko yu-shi byo), the stiffly starched garments of the court nobles, samurai, and Noh dancers by the stiff "stretched iron wire line" (tetsu-sen byo), and beggars' clothes by the coarse irregular "rusty nail and old post line" (ketsu-to-tei byo). Similarly, specific techniques are adhered to in portraying landscapes, water, clouds, trees, birds, and flowers. Besides the adherence to these details and laws, specific overall aesthetic and spiritual effects (such as spiritual elevation and living movement) are of paramount importance. Thus pure copying of nature or of human subjects stripped of these aesthetic principles is considered unworthy. Besides, even from a practical point of view, scenic portrayals could not be directly copied from nature because of the media of the Oriental artist. In painting, corrections of ink strokes were virtually impossible, and the rapidity of working with such ink necessitated a mental image of the entire final product before the painting could even be started. Similarly, this applied to netsuke and lacquer art. While the netsuke artist might spend hours studying his subject, such as a wild animal, the final product was his personal artistic conception, using his own unique style, of the wild animal after months of inspired carving. Similarly, with the lacquer artist, who even though he might work from sketches, or from a famous painting, the final product would be his own personal conception evolving out of months of slow, tedious, technical work necessitated by his difficult medium. True imitation is not to be seen in any great Japanese artist's work.
Landscapes should reveal the powers and influences of nature, warriors should look bold, religious personages divine, women delicate and graceful, etc. Thus the body and anatomy are not of prime importance but rather the feeling and spirit of the individual depicted. In Chinese art individual facial expression and bodily movement was not stressed as in Japanese portrayals. These differences will be noted subsequently in describing what might be considered the purely Japanese pictorial and ornamental art form following its emergence from Chinese influence. Chinese ornamental design and techniques, along with the pictorial element, also strongly influenced early Japanese art. Chinese ornamentation, especially in lacquer ware, tended to be overcrowded and symmetrically arranged. These designs consisted essentially of fine networks of scrolls, tendrils, and arabesques along with conventionalized animals and birds, the latter often incorporated into medallions. However, the Japanese artist soon broke away from such stereotyped ornamental tradition. It was this particular field of decoration and ornamentation that the Japanese uniquely developed to the highest degree, revealing the full force of their ingenuity, aesthetic ideals, and supreme technical craftsmanship. The Japanese also adapted the Chinese use of calligraphy both as an art form by itself and as a supplement to other art forms. Thus a treasured scroll may consist entirely of finely executed characters, or a picture might inspire a poem to be appropriately written alongside of it. On the other hand, a poem might inspire a picture. Similarly, calligraphy was used to enhance a pictorial design by interspersing a few letters within the tendrils and leaves of the design itself. In the Japanese handicrafts, including lacquer ware, the entire design might consist of two or three Chinese ideograms or of a few characters alluding to a waka poem. Calligraphy itself, as with all Japanese arts and culture, depicts specific symbolism and aesthetic ideals. The interplay between poetry, calligraphy, the fine arts, symbolism, the drama, and literature again represents the close interrelationship between Japanese culture and way of life.
Japanese lacquer techniques initially were copies of those found in the Chinese and Korean art products which were highly esteemed by their patrons. Gradually the Chinese techniques were incorporated into native taste and were modified and further developed in typical Japanese fashion. New techniques originated and were used alongside the older ones. Thus the relatively crude Chinese method of dusting of lacquer with metallic filings formed the basis of the highly developed Japanese makie techniques which the Chinese artisans themselves tried to copy in vain. Similarly, the technique of the heavily carved, busy, Chinese choshitsu lacquer never gained popularity in Japan as an exclusive technique for an object but was used more often as a supplementary technique for enhancing makie ware or, for example, on a netsuke or an inro to render the red hair of a witch or a shojo Kabuki dancer. The Chinese technique of mother-of-pearl inlay work was similarly adopted by the Japanese by selectively using this method in makie work for supplementary artistic and decorative effect. Thus a fish, done purely in makie, would have realistic glistening iridescent mother-of-pearl eyes (Fig. 3). Many of the older pieces of blue-green iridescent mother-of-pearl inlay work were subtly combined with togidashi lacquer technique. It is only with the relatively late Somada school that we begin to see mother-of-pearl used only by itself, reminiscent of the original Chinese technique. These late specimens, not typically Japanese in taste, permitted aesthetic beauty of design to give way to overornate, ostentatious, gaudy, overdecorated technical details. It might be mentioned that while the Chinese used encrustations of mother-of-pearl, jade, and soapstone, the Japanese expanded this technique to include various metallic encrustations which were done by metal (sword furniture) artists.
Initially Japanese art, including lacquer ware, was strongly influenced by the Chinese both in specific techniques and in subject matter, along with the aesthetic canons of presenting this subject matter. With the isolation of Japan during the Edo period, combined with the natural decorative instinct of her artists, a purely Japanese form of art and art values arose. Thus the harsh Chinese landscape gave way to the softer, more delicate, and loving Japanese portrayal of nature which was combined and balanced with the strong Japanese sense of ornamental design. Similarly, the Japanese artist, especially the miniature handicraft artist, depicted more of the finer details of nature in preference to overpowering landscape scenes. This stress placed on the realistic portrayal of the minutiae of nature became characteristically Japanese in feeling and flavor. The scope of subject matter also became much wider and more plebeian in taste by the 18th century, portraying every detail of Japanese living and customs. The Japanese placed more and more stress on the decorative element. Formalized early Chinese lacquer designs and arabesques of relative symmetry, or of crowded figures and landscapes, gave way to typical Japanese lacquer styles. The pictorial element became less crowded and more and more pleasingly asymmetrical. Human and animal figures were shown with less and less stylization and more naturalism. Humor and impressionism were introduced. The decorative element became more Japanese in style, being more varied, softer in feeling, and used not just as a background but as a counterbalance enhancing the pictorial element. The love of the Japanese artist for various textures, natural materials, and "defects" was displayed in Japanese handicrafts. In the miniature metal arts this appeared as the development of various ishime grounds. In lacquer art it appeared as the simulation of various textures in both the ground and the pictorial element. Thus lacquer was purposely made in appearance and texture to imitate the knots of wood, the rough bark of a tree, or even pottery or leather. By the late 17th century Japanese lacquer, in technique, ornamental design, and subject matter, had completely divorced itself from its original Chinese influences and had reached its zenith as a unique, purely Japanese art form.
By the late Edo period there was a sudden increased demand for art objects by the nouveau riche. The ultimate result was the degeneration of artistic values for the sake of technique itself. Art objects became more and more gaudy and ornate, entailing extremely detailed, elaborate techniques. Such mechanically perfect specimens were often done by special classes of technicians, such as mother-of-pearl inlayers, and were rarely signed.
Thus we see that it would be entirely false to state that the Japanese craftsmen were merely excellent imitators of Chinese art rather than truly inventive artisans themselves. This false impression was gained by naive and uninitiated Western critics, mainly through poor commercial late examples of Japanese art exported specifically for "Western taste."
Religious Influences
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