What is Japanese art? This book supplies an answer that gives a reader both a true picture and a fine understanding of Japanese art. Arranged thematically, the book includes chapters on nature and pleasure, landscape and beauty, all framed by themes of serenity and turmoil, the two poles of Japanese culture ancient and modern.

In this Japanese ink painting book renowned Japanese master Shozo Sato offers his own personal teaching on the beautiful art of sumi-e painting. Sumi-e: The Art of Japanese Ink Painting provides step-by-step, photo-by-photo instructions to guide learners in the correct form, motions and techniques of Japanese sumi-e painting. Featuring gorgeous images and practical advice, it includes guided instructions for 35 different paintings. From waterfalls to bamboo, learners paint their way to understanding sumi-e--a style of painting that is characteristically Asian and has been practiced for well over 1,000 years. Although it's sometimes confused with calligraphy, as the tools used are the same, sumi-e instead tries to capture the essence of an object or scene in the fewest possible strokes. This all-in-one resource also provides a timeline of brush painting history, a glossary of terms, a guide to sources and an index--making it a tool to use and treasure, for amateurs and professionals alike. This sumi-e introduction is ideal for anyone with a love of Japanese art or the desire to learn to paint in a classic Asian style.

In this beautiful and extraordinary zen calligraphy book, Shozo Sato, an internationally recognized master of traditional Zen arts, teaches the art of Japanese calligraphy through the power and wisdom of Zen poetry. Single-line Zen Buddhist koan aphorisms, or zengo, are one of the most common subjects for the traditional Japanese brush calligraphy known as shodo. Regarded as one of the key disciplines in fostering the focused, meditative state of mind so essential to Zen, shodo calligraphy is practiced regularly by all students of Zen Buddhism in Japan. After providing a brief history of Japanese calligraphy and its close relationship with the teachings of Zen Buddhism, Sato explains the basic supplies and fundamental brushstroke skills that you'll need. He goes on to present thirty zengo, each featuring: An example by a skilled Zen monk or master calligrapher An explanation of the individual characters and the Zen koan as a whole Step-by-step instructions on how to paint the phrase in a number of styles (Kaisho, Gyosho, Sosho) A stunning volume on the intersection of Japanese aesthetics and Zen Buddhist thought, Shodo: The Quiet Art of Japanese Zen Calligraphy guides beginning and advanced students alike to a deeper understanding of the unique brush painting art form of shodo calligraphy. Shodo calligraphy topics include: The Art of Kanji The Four Treasures of Shodo Ideogram Zengo Students of Shodo

During America's Gilded Age (dates), the country was swept by a mania for all things Japanese. It spread from coast to coast, enticed everyone from robber barons to street vendors with its allure, and touched every aspect of life from patent medicines to wallpaper. Americans of the time found in Japanese art every design language: modernism or tradition, abstraction or realism, technical virtuosity or unfettered naturalism, craft or art, romance or functionalism. The art of Japan had a huge influence on American art and design. Title compares juxtapositions of American glass, silver and metal arts, ceramics, textiles, furniture, jewelry, advertising, and packaging with a spectrum of Japanese material ranging from expensive one-of-a-kind art crafts to mass-produced ephemera. Beginning in the Aesthetic movement, this book continues through the Arts & Crafts era and ends in Frank Lloyd Wright's vision, showing the reader how that model became transformed from Japanese to American in design and concept. Hannah Sigur is an art historian, writer, and editor with eight years' residence and study in East and Southeast Asia. She has a master's degree from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and is completing a PhD in the arts of Japan. Her writings include co-authoring A Master Guide to the Art of Floral Design (Timber Press, 2002), which is listed in "The Best Books of 2002" by The Christian Science Monitor and is now in its second edition; and "The Golden Ideal: Chinese Landscape Themes in Japanese Art," in Lotus Leaves, A Master Guide to the Art of Floral Design (2001). She lives in Berkeley.