The art of Japan in the Edo period.

The art of Japan of the Edo period is well known and very popular all over the world. This period in the history of the country is considered a time of relative peace. The shogunate of Tokugawa, which united Japan in a centralized feudal state, possessed undisputed control over the Mikado government (since 1603) with the obligations to preserve peace, economic and political stability.

The shogunate's rule lasted until 1867, after which it was forced to capitulate because of the inability to cope with pressure from Western countries to open Japan for foreign trade. During the period of self-isolation, which lasted 250 years, the country revived and improved ancient Japanese traditions. In the absence of war and, accordingly, the use of their combat capabilities, daimyo (military feudal lords) and samurais focused their interests on art. In principle, this was one of the conditions of the policy - the emphasis on the development of culture, which became synonymous with power to divert people's attention from issues related to the war.

Daimyo competed with each other in painting and calligraphy, poetry and drama, ikebana and tea ceremony. The art of Japan in every form has been perfected, and perhaps it is difficult to name another society in world history where it has become such an important part of everyday life. Trade with Chinese and Dutch merchants, limited only by the port of Nagasaki, stimulated the development of unique Japanese ceramics. Initially, all the utensils were imported from China and Korea. In fact, it was a Japanese custom. Even when the first ceramics workshop was opened in 1616, only Korean craftsmen worked in it.

By the end of the seventeenth century, the art of Japan developed in three different ways. Among the aristocrats and the Kyoto intellectuals, the culture of the Heian period was revived, immortalized in painting and decorative and applied crafts of the Rippa School, the classical musical drama Ho (Nogaku).

In the eighteenth century, in the artistic and intellectual circles of Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo), the culture of Chinese writers of the Ming Empire was re-discovered, introduced by Chinese monks in Mampuku-ji, a Buddhist temple located south of Kyoto. As a result, a new style of nan-ga ("southern painting") or budzin-ha ("literary pictures") appeared.

In Edo, especially after the devastating fire in 1657, a completely new art of Japan is born, the so-called culture of townspeople reflected in literature, the so-called philistine dramas for the theaters of Kabuki and dzoruri (traditional puppet theater), and ukiyo-e engraving.

However, one of the greatest cultural achievements of the Edo period still were not works of painting, but decorative and applied arts. Artistic objects created by Japanese artisans included ceramics and lacquer ware, textiles, masks from wood for the theater No, fans for female performers, dolls, netsuke, samurai swords and armor, leather saddles and stirrups decorated with gold and lacquer, utikake Ceremonial kimono for wives of samurai high class, embroidered with symbolic images).

Modern art of Japan is represented by a wide range of artists and craftsmen, but it should be said that many of them continue to work in the traditional styles of the Edo period.