Traditional Japanese painting tends to fall into two main categories: painting in the Chinese manner with Chinese genres and subject matter (kanga 漢画) and painting in the native Japanese style (yamato-e やまと絵 (also 大和絵 or 倭絵)).

Two landscapes in the Chinese style

Two landscapes in the Japanese style

Among the generalizations one can make about Japanese paintings are:

Full painting

they exhibit a preference for asymmetrical composition that is felt to lend a certain dynamism to a painting, they make use of negative space (the open space around solid forms)and it often plays as important a role in a composition as the positive areas, the subjects are often partially hidden since objects are thought more beautiful when only half revealed, the surface likeness of painted objects to real objects is often thought to be of less importance than capturing the soul of the subject through expressive means. In the example (see right) the composition's asymetry suggest a tree shaped by strong winds. The unpainted white paper frames and sets off the tree by the very absence of surrounding details. The image is all the more powerful for its lack of a full view of the tree. The spotchy rendering of the tree's bark (see details right) in combination with the other aspects truly does depict an aged tree that struggled to grow despite hardships.

Details

Ink painting (sumi-e 墨絵 or suibokuga 水墨画 water-ink painting)is perhaps the best-known style of Japanese painting. Only black ink—the same as used in calligraphy—in various shades is used. This style is based on Chinese Song dynasty landscape painting. Occasional use of color is seen but it is limited to subtle, transparent washes that always remain subordinated to the ink line.

Typically traditional paintings are mounted as hanging scrolls--called kakejiku 掛軸 or kakemono 掛物 in Japanese.

Another form of paintings are shikishi 色紙 (see left) and tanzaku 短冊 (see lower right). These are calligraphy and/or paintings on silk or paper that have been glued onto thin stiff strips of card stock.These may be decorated with colored designs, sprinkled with cut gold, silver or mica or covered with silk. Shikishi are typically boards sized 9 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches, while tanzaku are long vertical pieces approximately 2 3/8 x 14 1/4 inches.

Selected Bibliography

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