SamuraiArt6

There were four main samurai arts: ikebana, Zen rock gardening, haiku, and painting. These were very important. Some of these were more religious than others. The religious arts are ikebana and rock gardening, while haiku and painting are not so religious.

Ikebana is an offering of flowers to Buddha. They are thrown on the altar of Buddha. This came to Japan in the 6th century when Buddhism was introduced to Japan. Around the 15 century, this action was turned into a form of art. In India, flowers were put informally on the altar, and sometimes only petals were thrown. Eventually, Japan started to put it in containers unlike India. Eventually, texts and scripts were written on this art. Soon, it was a major part of festivals and "Flower Masters" taught others how to do this ritual.

Zen gardens were made as a place for meditation. Zen rock gardens are usually made with rocks, gravel, and sand. These are usually set up in a simple but artistic manner normally consisting of many groups of 2, 3, and 5 rocks. The raked lines of sand in the stone garden both symbolize and become the ripples of water. The gardens also usually don't have any vegetation. The difference of one rock could completely destroy the image of a garden and what it is trying to convey. Gardens are found in most Zen monasteries. When looked upon, gardens give the viewer a sense of void and emptiness. It was surrounded by a tile roofed plaster wall.

Haiku is formal poetry, and it was invented by the poet Basho. It was greatly influenced by Zen Buddhism. Many properties of haiku are shaped around Zen Buddhism. Some are made to deliver a feeling of calm, void, or emptiness. Kensho are little flashes of enlightenment in Zen Buddhism. Some haikus are designed to give kensho.

Haiku is usually about nature. There are 3 lines in a haiku. Haikus are based on the number of syllables in each line for example in the first line there are 5 syllables then in the second line there are 7 syllables and finally in the third line there are 5 syllables again. Every haiku contains a kigo. A kigo is a season word such as snow, winter, cherry blossoms, spring and many more.

Most haiku poets were Zen Buddhists. Many haikus are based on properties of Zen Buddhism. Some famous haiku poets are Basho, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa. Baho invented haiku and made many famous. Here is an example of a haiku. (Due to translation, the number of syllables is not correct.)

Come, my old hat Let us go and see The flowers at Yoshino

The styles of painting were nature painting, narrative scroll painting, urban life, court life, portraits, and sumi-e. Paintings were mounted as handscrolls, hanging scrolls, panels, or screens. Painting was greatly influenced by Chinese styles. Narrative paintings first came from China, and were originally only about religion. A common subject would be a painting of a holy man. Common subjects then expanded to battle and nature scenes. Sumi-e was a style that also came from China. These paintings were simple paintings made with fast brush strokes, and used only black ink. These paintings became extremely popular among merchants, and eventually artists made carved wooden stamps to easily copy paintings.

Samurai arts are very important to the Japanese culture. Ikebana and rock gardens were very important to religion, and Zen Buddhism would be very different without them. Haiku revealed information about Zen Buddhism, and paintings became very valuable. Japanese culture would be very different without these rituals and arts.

Citations:

Ikebana International. “Ikebana.” Ikebana International. Ikebana International, 2005. Web. 16 February 2010.

Marsh, George. "In the moonlight a worm…" The Reference Section. Waning Moon Press, 1999. Web. 18 February 2010.

Odjik, Pamela. The Ancient World: The Japanese. Englewood Cliffs: Sliver Burdett Press, 1991.

"Sand and Stone-Ryojin ." Japanese Gardens. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2010.

Schomp, Virginia. Japan in the Days of the Samurai. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2002. Print.

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