JAPANESE AESTHETICS: Plants in the Visual Arts (Geijutsu to Shokubutsu)

The graphic or illustrative arts in Japan traditionally have relied on the sensitivity of the artist to nature and thus, have been likely to be simple, compact, and modest, yet elegant. Traditional renderings of landscapes, for example, do not display the wide range of colors that is seen in Western oil paintings or watercolors. This same simplicity and grace applies to sculpture as well: delicately carved and small in size.

Plants, flowers and birds, or at least their outlines are frequently rendered in lifelike colors on fabric, lacquer ware and ceramics. The love of natural forms and an enthusiasm for the expression of nature in idealized style have been the key intentions in the development of traditional Japanese arts such as ikebana (flower arrangement, chanoyou (the tea ceremony), tray landscapes (bonkei), bonsai, and landscape gardening. It is through these arts that the Japanese people have attempted to incorporate the beauty of nature into their spiritual values and daily lives.

For the decoration of a teahouse, a modest flower was selected to conform with the principle that flowers should always look as if they were still in nature. The Japanese have sought to express the immensity as well as the simplicity of nature with a single wild flower in a solitary vase.

Copyright 2010 by Hayato Tokugawa. All rights reserved.

JAPANESE AESTHETICS: Plants in Japanese Visual Arts

JAPANESE AESTHETICS: Plants in Japanese Visual Arts

(Geijutsu to Shokubutsu)

The illustrative arts of Japan, indeed, many other art forms, have reflected the artist’s sensitivity to nature and lean toward compact, simple, spare, graceful and elegant images. Traditional Japanese representations of landscapes do not, for example, exhibit the wide range of colors and detail that one might find in Western oil paintings. Even in sculpture, works are generally delicate and small in scale.

Plants, flowers, and birds (or their patterns) are commonly reproduced in lifelike colors on fabrics, lacquer ware and ceramics. This love for the forms of nature and an passion to express them in an “ideal” fashion have been key motivations in the development of traditional Japanese arts, for example: ikebana, (flower arrangement), Chanoyu (tea ceremony), tray landscapes (bonkei), bonsai, and landscape gardening. Through these art forms the Japanese have tried to integrate the beauty of nature into their daily lives as well as their personal religions and spiritual values.