3

 Before the Meiji

Restoration, the date
of the Japanese New
Year was based on
the lunar (Chinese)
calendar.
 Nowadays, the date
is based on the
Gregorian calendar.
 The first day of
January, i.e. Jan 01
2022.

2
Lecture Date Topic

1 Jan 18 Introduction
2 Jan 25 Origin and development of Zen Buddhism
Lunar New Year Feb 1 No Class
3 Feb 8 The acceptance and development of Zen in Japan
4 Feb 13 Japanese aesthetic values 1
5 Feb 22 Japanese aesthetic values 2
6 Mar 1 Traditional Japanese arts.
Reading Week Mar 8 No Class
7 Mar 15 Influence on arts and literature
8 Mar 22 Influence on architecture and landscaping (Short Essay Due)

9 Mar 29 Zen and design

Ching Ming Festival Apr 5 No Class
10 Apr 12 Zen and lifestyle
11 Apr 19 Influence across the globe
12 Apr 26 Zen and contemporary aesthetics

3
 (1) Short Essay (800-1000 words )– 25 %
 Suggested topics (Due Mar 22, 2022)

 (2) Final Essay (2000 words) – 60 %

 Suggested topics / any approved topic (Due May 10, 2022).

 (3) Attendance / Participation – 15 %

 Zoom: sign in with your HKU account/ email with registered
name.

4
 Outstanding – shows critical / research/ reflective elements,
novelty, correct understanding and historicity.
 Excellent – shows some research elements, originality,
correct understanding and historicity.
 Good – correct understanding of what is mentioned in the
lecture.
 Satisfactory – try your best to hand in something...
 Please submit on time.
 No plagiarism.
 Turnitin <30%
 Cite everything properly (with page numbers).
 Originality.

 4 or more academic sources. (for short essay, from Moodle

reading list).
5
 Due March 22.
 800-1000 words (exclude footnotes and bibliography).
 Examine a traditional Japanese art form in relation to the
aesthetic values influenced by Zen Buddhism.

 E.g. Wabi-sabi in Japanese Tea Ceremony.

Wabi-sabi of Sen no Rikyu’s Tea Bowls.
Mono-no-aware in Bonsai Arts.
Discuss the aesthetic elements in a specific Noh play.

6
 Due May 10.
 ~2000 words (exclude footnotes and bibliography).
 Examine the Zen elements in a traditional Japanese art/
aesthetic form expressed in the comptempoary context.
 Examples:
 Modern Japanese Tea Ceremony.
 Contemporary Tea Houses.
 Contemporary Haiku.
 Zen Elements in the Design of Tadao Endo.

7
 [Link] concepts, practices and historical background.
 [Link] of Zen:
 Philosophy and nature of beauty and taste.
 What is consider beauty? Why pleasing?
 Principles and concepts.

 [Link]: (expression, inspiration, conveyed)

 Japanese traditional arts;
 Architecture and landscaping;
 Arts and literature;
 Spirituality;
 Design;
 Lifestyle.

8
 Zen traces its root to the historical
Buddha.
 Modern scholars agreed Zen
originated in China.
 Zen proliferated in the Tang and
Sung dynasties.
 Together with Zen, “Zen cultures”
were valued and transmitted to
Korea and Japan.
 Zen declined from the Ming dynasty.

9
 10

 Buddhism faded out in

India after the 12th century.
 Buddhism spread and
continues to develop
outside of India.
 China, Korea, Japan,
Tibet...
 Important schools:
 Zen, Pure Land and
Shingon.
 Adaptation: integrated and
assimilated local cultures.
Japanese context

11
 2 routes:

 From China via Korea.

 Old Schools, e.g. 10
Chinese Schools.
 Directly from China by sea.
 Zen.
 Shingon (Tantric
Buddhism).

12
 Buddhism entered Japan at the end
of the Kofun period (~400 to 538 CE).
 From Baekje (百済),
 The Three Kingdoms Period in Korea.
(57 BCE to 668 CE).
 Political alliance with Japan, to
counteract Silla and Goguryeo.
 The Baekje king sent Buddhist
scriptures and a bronze Buddha statue
the Imperial court.
 Buddhism was officially introduced to
Japan.
 Buddhism is active since the Nara
period (奈良時代).

13
Kudara Kannon (百済観音) Hōryū-ji (法隆寺)
Nara Six Buddhist School,
later Shingon & Tendai

14
 The Tang Dynasty (618 to 907
CE) is regarded as one of the
“golden age” of Chinese culture.
 Heyday of Chinese art, music,
architecture, aesthetics,
literature...
 Appealing / admired by the
Japanese.
 Transmitted Japan together with
Buddhism.
 Japan also sent scholars,
monks, government officials to
China.
 Japanese missions to Tang
China (遣唐使, kentōshi).

15
[Link]

Surprise Quiz!

16
 A B C

 Which of the above is a traditional Japanese attire?

17
 Tang China during that period represents a
leading cultural center.
 In many other ways, the Japanese upper
classes patterned themselves after the Chinese:
(tōfū 唐風 “style of Tang”)
 Chinese writing system,
 Literature,
 Aesthetics,
 Architecture,
 Engineering,
 Socio-political system,
 Moral values,
 Medical system,
 Food (tea),
 Fashion, and
 Chinese version of Buddhism.
 Result: the Tenpyō bunka (天平文化) in Nara.
 Impact on Japanese culture and thoughts.
18
 [Link]
vERA
 Japan's first international and
political capital.
 Nara period (奈良時代, 710-794 CE).
 Heijō-kyō (平城京).
 Modeled after Chang’an (長安).
 The capital of the Tang dynasty in
China.
 Peak population of approximately
100,000.
 Area 25 km².

 Merchants and traders from

China, Korea and India introduced
various foreign cultures to Heijō-
kyō.
 Buddhist culture.
 Buddhism became the state religion. 19
 Old Buddhism (Kyū Bukkyō 旧仏教)
 Nara and Heian periods.
 Dominating the political landscape.
 Buddhism of the Imperial and aristocrats.
 Emperor in power over Japan.

 Six Nara Schools

 Kusha School (俱舎宗)
 Jōjitsu School (成実宗)
 Sanron School (三論宗)
 Ritsu School (律宗)
 Hosso School (法相宗)
 Kegon School (華厳宗)

 Two Heian Schools

 Tendai 天台宗
 Shingon 真言宗

 Chinese (Tang) aesthetics in general.

20
 Tang/ Sung cultures.
 Nara period.

 Tang aesthetics.
 Refined, “international”,
“auspiciousness”,
sophisticated and
luxury.
 The Shōsō-in (正倉院)
collection.

21
 Tang/ Sung cultures.
 Nara.
 Tang aesthetics.
 Refined and luxury.

22
 A B C

 Which of the above is a traditional Japanese attire?

23
 Japan mission (遣唐使, kentōshi) came to
a halt towards the end of the Tang
Dynasty in China (838).
 Unstable political situation and downfall of
Tang.
 Never resumed.

 Beginnings of indigenous culture

development.
 Modification of the Tenpyō culture.
 Developed into the “National style culture”
(国風文化 Kokufū bunka).
 Influential in later aesthetic development.

24
 National style culture (国風文化 Kokufū
bunka).
 Chinese influences were in decline and
the national culture matured.
 Disrupted cultural exchange.

 Engaged by the imperial court.

 “Imperial” aesthetics.

 Modification and adaptation of the

Chinese style (tōfū 唐風 “style of Tang”).
 Art, especially poetry and literature were
developed in the Japanese indigenous
style.
 Byōdō-in (平等院, “Temple of Equality” in
Uji).

25
 Genji Monogatari (源氏物語)
 Murasaki Shikibu (紫式部 973 or 978 – c. 1014
or1031)
 Fujiwara no Kaoruko (藤原香子)
 Court lady, poet.

 Considered the world's first novel.

 Court literature.
 Court language.
 Fiction.

 Narrative story of 54 chapters.

 Understanding the culture of the aristocracy in
early Heian period.
 Forms of entertainment.
 Manner of dress.
 Aesthetics.
 Moral code.
 Buddhist + Shinto influence.
26
 The power and beauty of nature.
 Shinto influence.

 Impermanence and suffering.

 Mono no aware 物の哀れ
 “the pathos of things”.
 an empathy toward things.

 Awareness of impermanence (無常, mujō), or

transience of things.
 A transient gentle sadness (or wistfulness) at their
passing.
 A longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state
being the reality of life.
 Awareness of the transience of all things
heightens appreciation of their beauty.
 The “present moment”.
 Appreciate life, beauty is everywhere.
 Japanese cultural tradition.
27
 White-powdered (Oshiroi 白粉) face .
 Plucked eyebrows (Hikimayu 引眉).
 Aristocratic women used to pluck or
shave their eyebrows and paint new ones
using a powdered ink.
 Blackened teeth (Ohaguro お歯黒).
 Using iron based dye (鉄漿 kane).

 Was banned in 1870 (hikimayu and

ohaguro).

28
 A B C

 Which of the above is a traditional Japanese attire?

29
 The jūnihitoe (十二単, "twelve
layers").
 Itsutsuginu-karaginu-mo (五衣唐衣裳).

 Formal court dress first worn in the

Heian period by noble ladies.
 Straight long hair.

30
 Sokutai (束帯)
 A complex attire worn only by
courtiers, aristocrats and the
emperors.
 Hat (kanmuri 冠).
 During Heian Period, mostly black.
 Not accessible to dyes?

 Ritual tablet or scepter (shaku 笏).

 Originated from China.
 Emperor Naruhito and Empress
Masako.

31
 Yamato-e (大和絵).
 A style inspired by Tang dynasty
paintings .
 Fully developed by the late Heian period.
 Characteristics:
 Detailed small figures and careful
depictions of details of buildings and
other objects.
 Some area covered by a "floating cloud",
an oblique view from above showing
interiors of buildings as though through
a cutaway roof, and very stylized
depiction of landscape.

32
When was the trend of
“rustic” aesthetics appeared?

33
• Prehistoric and ancient periods
• Paleolithic period (石器時代 c. -14000 BCE)
• Jōmon period (縄文時代 c. 14000 BCE – 900 BCE)
• Yayoi period (弥生時代 c 900 BCE- 250 CE) (Gautama Buddha ~500 BCE)
• Kofun period (古墳時代 c. 250–538)

• Classical periods - The Emperors in power

• Asuka period (飛鳥時代, 538–710) [ Hakuhō period (白鳳時代, 646-710)]
• Nara period (奈良時代, 710–794)
• Heian period (平安時代, 794–1185)

• Feudal periods - The Shoguns 将軍 in power, Shogunate government (bakufu 幕府)

• Kamakura period (鎌倉時代, 1185–1333)
• Muromachi period (室町時代, 1333–1568)
Zen Buddhism
• Azuchi–Momoyama period (安土桃山時代, 1568–1600)
predominated
• Early modern periods (~700 years)
• Edo (Tokugawa) period (江戸時代, 1600–1868)

• Modern periods
• Meiji period (明治時代, 1868–1912)
• Taishō period (大正時代, 1912–1926)
• Shōwa period (昭和時代, 1926–1989)
• Heisei period (平成時代, 1989–2019)
• Reiwa period (令和時代, 2019–present)

34
 Zen Buddhism predominated.
 Particularly the Rinzai school.

 Shaped every aspects of daily

lives.
 Played a central role in the
development of art of all
kinds—architecture, literature,
Noh drama, poetry, the tea
ceremony, landscape
gardening, and flower
arranging.
 We now considered as typically
“Japanese” were development
in these periods.

35
Nara Six Buddhist School, Zen (Rinzai school) Rejection of Buddhism
later Shingon & Tendai
 Zen predominated 

36
Kamakura

Ashikaga

Tokugawa

37
 Minamoto no Yoritomo (源賴朝1147 –
1199).
 Ashikaga Takauji (足利尊氏, 1305 –
1358).
 Oda Nobunaga 織田信長 (1534-82).
 Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 (1536-98).
 Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 (1543-1616).
 All of them have had close relationship
with Zen Buddhism.
 Zen was more than a religion.

38
 A period of governance by the Kamakura
shogunate.
 Imperial (Kyoto) + Shogunate (Kamakura)
 The emperors were figureheads in the feudal period.

 Established in 1192 in Kamakura by Minamoto no

Yoritomo (源賴朝1147 – 1199).
 The first shogun (将軍) with ruling power.
 “First” shogun was Ōtomo no Otomaro (大伴 弟麻呂) in
Nara period (as general).

 Emergence of the samurai, the warrior caste.

 Establishment of the feudal system.

 Samurai gained political power.

 Culture of the samurai.

39
 Shoguns were usually the actual rulers. Emperor

 Control over the imperial court.

 “Tent government” (bakufu 幕府). Shogun
 Kamakura Shogunate (鎌倉幕府).
 Absolute power over the country. Shogu

 Shi-nō-kō-shō system. Samurai

 Samurai (士 shi), farming peasants (農 nō), artisans Ronin

(工 kō) and merchants (商 shō).
 Emergence of the samurai, the warrior caste, Peasants

and for the establishment of feudalism in Artisans

Japan.
 Peasants (farmers) were considered a higher Merchants
caste than merchants. Outcaste
 The influence of merchants was weak.
 Produce nothing on their own.

40
 Emperor
figurehead
for the
powerful
shogun

 Title of the military dictators of

Japan during most of the period Shogun

spanning from 1185 to 1868.

 Japan is divided into territories
ruled by feudal lords (Daimyo 大 Daimyo

名).
 Samurai were the well-paid
retainers of the daimyo (the great
feudal landholders). Samurai

 They had high prestige and special

privileges such as wearing two
swords. Peasants,

 Warriors.

41
 The feudal periods were
marked by political and
military conflict, natural
disasters, and social
disorder.
 “Warrior state”.
 Killing everyday.

42
 Old Buddhism (Kyū Bukkyō 旧仏教)
 Nara and Heian periods.
 Dominating the political landscape.
 Buddhism of the Imperial and aristocrats.
 Emperor in power over Japan.

 Six Nara Schools

 Kusha School (俱舎宗)
 Jōjitsu School (成実宗)
 Sanron School (三論宗)
 Ritsu School (律宗)
 Hosso School (法相宗)
 Kegon School (華厳宗)

 Two Heian Schools

 Tendai 天台宗
 Shingon 真言宗

 Chinese (Tang) aesthetics in general.

43
 New Buddhism (Shin Bukkyō 新仏教)
 New Buddhist schools emerged to
solve social/life problems.
 Buddhism of samurai and commoners.

 New Six Kamakura Schools

 Jōdo (Pure Land 浄土) (developing in
Heian period)
 Jōdo-shū 浄土宗,
 Jōdo Shinshū 浄土真宗,
 Ji-shū 時宗.

 Zen 禅
 Rinzai-shū 臨済宗.
 Soto-shū曹洞宗.

 Nichiren 日蓮宗

44
 Zen, as a school, was introduced in the 12th
century during the Kamakura period
(1185–1333).
 By the Japanese monks who had studied Zen
in China.
 Dainichibo Nonin (大日房能忍, d. 1194?)
established the first Zen school known as
the Daruma-school (達磨宗).
 Vanished, Nonin was murdered, his disciples
went to Eisai and Dogen.
 Myoan Eisai (明菴栄西, 1141-1215),
returned from China and established the
Rinzai school (臨済, Chinese: Linji).
 Brought tea from China.

 Eihei Dogen (永平道元,1200-1253)

established the Soto school (曹洞), the
Japanese branch of Caodong.
45
  Different Zen school/ sect.

 Rinzai sect
 “Samurai Zen”
 Loved by the samurai / aristocrats.

 Soto sect
 “Farmer Zen” (derogatory)
 Mass appealing.
 Down-to-earth.
 Some samurai were Soto followers.

 Keisaku (警策)

[Link] 46
 The primary reason samurai
adopted Zen Buddhism was the
belief that it strengthened them on
the battlefield.
 Facing “death” everyday
 Zen helped followers dismiss such
thoughts.
 Fight with intense concentration.
 Self-reliance.
 Acting in a spontaneous and
intuitive way.
 Confronting death without fear.
 A relief of everyday stress / life-
death situations.
 Favoured by the shogun and upper
warrior classes.
47
 Samurai began to practice Zen meditation with
Rinzai masters.
 Enhancing martial arts skills and reducing fear
of death on a battlefield.
 The samurai in return supported the Rinzai
school.
 Zen philosophy also emphasizes mastering
crafts and techniques by unifying body and
mind through action without thought.
 Helped samurai master sword fighting, archery
and other essential battle skills.
 Zen practices helped the samurai achieve high
levels of mastery of a clear, focused mind.
 Samurai composed poetry, practiced the tea
ceremony and maintained gardens.
 Molded the characters of many distinguished
warriors.
 Bushidō (武士道, "the way of the warrior").

48
 Samurai were symbols of the ideal
warrior and citizen.
 The “elite”.
 Entrusted with the security of the
estates.
 Their life-style, aesthetic values and
culture were valued by the public.
 Heavily influenced Japanese culture.
 The warrior classes were in power until
the mid-19th century.
 Focus on the inner (spiritual) world,
and not the outer (material) world.
 “Peace of mind”.
 Most of the aesthetics ideologies are
related to Zen meditation.

49
 Killing contradicts with Buddhism?
 Zen’s teachings on peace and non-
violence conflicted with the martial
arts?
 It appears the majority of Zen-
practicing samurai sought the
mental discipline to be better
warriors but were not so keen on
the Buddhism part of Zen.
 Refrain from unnecessary killing?
 Not Buddhist, but Zen as a tool?
 Engage in Buddhist activities, but
not necessarily Buddhist
themselves.

50
 During the Muromachi period the
Rinzai school was the most
successful of the schools, since it
was favoured by the shogun.
 The Rinzai monks were employed by
the shogun for the governing of state
affairs.
 In the beginning of the Muromachi
period the Gozan (Five Mountain)
system was established.
 This system was extended throughout
Japan.
 Effectively giving control all over
Japan.

51
 Musō Soseki (夢窓疎石, 1275 – 1351).
 The most famous Rinzai monk of his time.
 Also a calligrapher, poet and garden designer.
 Musō Kokushi (夢窓国師) ("national master"),

 His mother was the daughter of Hōjō

Masamura (1264-1268), 7th Shikken
(regent) of the Kamakura shogunate.
 Established the Five Mountain System.

52
 Gozan Jissetsu Seido 五山十刹制度
 Modeled after Sung China.
 A network of state-sponsored Chan (Zen)
Buddhist temples.
 "Five Mountain" temples (five in Kyoto and Nanzen-ji (南禅寺)
five in Kamakura).
 Under were the Ten Jissetsu (十刹) temples.
 Followed by another network of Shozan (諸山
many temples) across Japan.

 Originally adopted to promote Zen

Buddhism in Japan.

53
Kenchō-ji (建長寺)
 Head "First Temple of The Land” Nanzen-ji 南禅寺

Kyoto Kamakura
 1st rank Tenryū-ji 天龍寺 Kenchō-ji 建長寺
 2nd rank Shōkoku-ji 相国寺 Engaku-ji 円覚寺
 3rd rank Kennin-ji 建仁寺 Jufuku-ji 寿福寺
 4th rank Tōfuku-ji 東福寺 Jōchi-ji 浄智寺
 5th rank Manju-ji 万寿寺 Jōmyō-ji 浄妙寺

 All are Rinzai Zen temples!

 Protected and regulated by the Shogunate government.

54
 Controlled and used by the ruling
class for administrative and political
purpose.
 Distribution of government laws and
norms.
 Monitoring of local conditions.
 Monks worked for the government as
translators, diplomats and advisers.
 To the Rinzai sect, their alliance with
the shogunate brought wealth,
influence and political power over
Japan.
 Many remarkable temples belong to
the Rinzai sect.

55
 Influence on all aspects of national life,
from government and commerce to the
arts and education.
 Shoguns were patrons of arts.
 Art of all kinds—architecture, literature,
Noh drama, poetry, the tea ceremony,
landscape gardening, and flower
arranging—all flourished during
Muromachi times are related to Zen
Buddhism.
 Today, the “Five Mountain” monasteries
are known for their impressive
landscaping.
 Musō Sōseki incorporated and refined
the kare sansui (枯山水, dry mountains
and water) style of gardens.

56
 Kare sansui (枯山水).
 “Dry landscape” garden, aka Zen garden.
 The “Japanese garden”.
 Dominant style in Edo period.

 Usually found in Zen temples.

 Ryōan-ji (龍安寺). Rinzai.

 Miniature landscape through careful

arrangements of rocks, moss, pruned trees and
bushes, and uses gravel or sand that is raked to
represent ripples in water.
 They were intended to imitate the essence of
nature.
 Serve as an aid to meditation about the true
meaning of existence.
 Rocks = mountains / islands.
 Gravels= ocean/ water.
 The reality is just a manifestation of the mind.

57
 Political unrest.
 But substantial development in arts
and culture.
 Strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism.

 Kitayama 北山 culture (late 14th cent.).

 Higashiyama 東山 culture (later 15th
– early 16th cent.).
 Ashikaga shoguns built villas there
as centers for art and culture.
 Architecture, cuisine, chadō (tea
ceremony), ikebana (flower
arranging), Noh drama, sumi-e ink
painting...
 Much of what is commonly regarded
today as “Japanese culture”
originated in this period.

58
 Kitayama bunka (北山文化).
 North mountain culture.
 Area of Kitayama 北山 (Kyoto).

 Early Muromachi period.

 Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺) representative of Kitayama
culture.
 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (足利義満, 1358 –1408 3rd
shogun).
 Kitayama-dono (北山殿) retirement villa which,
among other things, boasted a pavilion two-
thirds covered in gold leaf (Kinkaku shariden 金
閣舎利殿).
 an important cultural center.
 aristocratic and gorgeous.

 After Yoshimitsu’s death, the building was

converted into a Zen temple (Kinkaku-ji 金閣寺)
according to his wishes.

59
 Higashiyama bunka (東山文化)
 East mountain culture.
 Higashiyama 東山.

 The 8th shogun Ashikaga

Yoshimasa 足利義政 (1436-90).
 Retired to his villa in the eastern
hill (東山 Higashiyama) of Kyoto.
 Turned into Ginkakuji 銀閣寺
(Jishouji 慈照寺) after his death.
 The center of the Higashiyama
culture.
 Simplicity and subtleness.
 (Wabi-sabi).

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 Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since
the 14th century.
 Heavily influenced by Zen.
 Zeami Motokiyo (世阿弥 元清1363-1443) and his
father, Kanami (観阿弥 1333–84), established Noh in
the present form.
 Lay Zen clergy at age 20.
 Favored by shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and warlords.

 Integrated Japanese and Chinese ancient poetry, and

Zen thoughts into his drama.
 Wrote about 30-50 plays.

 Wrote many treatises about Noh.

 Philosophy of performance.
 These treatises are the oldest known works on the
philosophy of drama in Japanese literature.
 Treasured by shoguns, daimyos.
 Patronized by the samurai class.

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 The Ami family Amiha 阿弥派 (3 Amis),
 Ink-paintings (sumi-e)
 Nōami 能阿弥 (1397-1471),
 Geiami 芸阿弥 (1431-85) and
 Sōami 相阿弥 (1455-1525).

 Became advisors and curators

(dōbōshū 同朋衆) of the Shoguns’ art
collection.
 Chinese Southern Sung style.
 Strongly affecting later aesthetic culture.

 They produced a catalogue of the

Chinese paintings in the collection and
wrote the first art criticism in Japan
Kundaikan sayū chōki 君台観左右帳記.

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 “Peach mountain” period.
 Overlapping the second-half of Sengoku
period (戦国時代 1467 to 1615).
 Azuchi Castle (安土城, Azuchi-jō)
 Oda Nobunaga 織田信長.
 At Mt Azuchi, Shiga.

 Momoyama Castle (桃山城, Momoyama-

jō)
 Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉.
 At Fushimi 伏見, Kyoto.

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 Tea drinking was originally engaged by
monk as a form of meditation.
 Tea culture and tea drinking habit
spread widely in Samurai society.
 Every time samurai came back from the
battlefield, they practiced the tea
ceremony to search the peace in their
mind.
 As a “Zen meditation”.

 Cha-no-yu (茶の湯) became very

important social and political
opportunities for the ruling class.
 Nobunaga and Hideyoshi collected prized
tea bowls and utensils.
 More precious than gold.
 As “fancy” as possible.

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 Higashiyama culture.
 Tea drinking should be spiritual and elegance.

 Murata Jukō (村田珠光, 1423–1502).

 Studied Zen under the priest Ikkyū Sōjun 一休宗
純.
 Employed by the shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa as
a tea master at the Ginkaku-ji?
 Sadō/chadō (茶道 "The Way of Tea") or cha-
no-yu (茶の湯)
 Predominated style until nowadays.
 Gone through a number of development in the
Momoyama period.
 Sen no Rikyū (千利休).
 Wabi-cha.

 Discuss further in next lecture.

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 Sen no Rikyū (千利休, 1522 -1591), is
considered the most profound influence on
the Japanese "Way of Tea".
 Rinzai Zen training.
 Wabi-cha.

 Advisor/ Tea master for Oda Nobunaga and

Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
 Rikyū reformed several key aspects of the
ceremony:
 Focus on modest simplicity, directness of
approach and honesty of self.
 These aspects of the tea ceremony and
aesthetics persist and influencing the
modern times.
 Tea drinking in a philosophical manner.
 Zen thoughts: undecorated and the humble.

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 Established in1603 at Edo 江戸
(Tokyo).
 Tokugawa period (徳川時代, Tokugawa
jidai 1603 -1868).
 15 Shoguns.
 300+ regional daimyō.

 End of the Sengoku period.

 Japan finally unified.

 Characterized by economic growth,

social stability, "no more wars", and
popular enjoyment of arts and
culture.
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 Chōnin Culture (町人文化)
 Chōnin (町人, "townsman")
 Genroku Period元禄時代1688-1725.
 Genroku Culture (元禄文化)

 Peaceful Society.
 Merchants became increasingly wealthy.
 Trading.
 The “Middle-class” culture.

 Culture to “enjoy life”.

 Integrated samurai lifestyle and art:
 Noh (能), Cha-no-yu (茶の湯), and flower
arrangement (生け花).
 “Zen” culture and aesthetics got
popularized.
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 A B C

 Which of the above is a traditional Japanese attire?

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 Matsuo Basho (松尾芭蕉,1644 – 1694),
 Monk and poet.
 Haiku 俳句
 About the nature which could bring wabi-sabi.
Old pond...
A frog leaps in
Water’s sound
古池や蛙飛びこむ水の音
furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto
5/7/5 “on” (音, syllable)
 Not because they are beautiful:
 Important to the state of the mind,
 Appreciate what we have,
 Pleasure from simplicity,
 Escape from suffering of the self.

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 Hakuin Ekaku (白隠 慧鶴, 1686 -
1769)
 One of the most influential figures
in Japanese Zen Buddhism.
 Reviver of Buddhism in Edo period.
 Recognized as one of the greatest
Japanese Zen painters and
calligrapher.
 Acclaimed in the Edo period.
 Worldwide.
 One of the greatest Japanese Zen
painters.

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 Meiji era (1868-1912)
 No more samurai.

 Meiji government officials frequently and

increasingly criticized Buddhism as a
product of decline and degeneration.
 Anti-Buddhist riots in Japan.
 Destroying temples, statues, and ritual
objects in a movement known as :
 “Abolish Buddhism and destroy Shakyamuni”
haibutsu kishaku (廃仏毀釈)
 Although Buddhism suffered a downfall,
the related aesthetics remained and
continued to be influential in the daily life
of the people.

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 Lecture 4 & 5
 Japanese aesthetic values.
 Wabi-sabi (侘寂)
 Yūgen (幽玄)
 Mono-no-aware (物の哀れ)
 Shibui (渋い)
 Iki (粋)
 Jo-ha-kyū (序破急)
⁞

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