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This volume tells about Japanese religious art. Shinto and Buddhism have played such a part in shaping the soul and sensibility of the Japanese, and have so influenced their conception and representation of the world, that one cannot form an idea, even a superficial one. of their art and their civilization without some general understanding of these two religions, any more than one can study Romanesque and Gothic art in ignorance of Christianity.
E-Book Content
Japanese Art I
.
RELIGIOUS ART 6K)
II
!)()R
PUBLISHING
i
O.
21
JAPANESE ART RELIGIOUS ART PETITE ENCYCLOPEDIE DE
L
'
A R T
FERNAND HAZAN, PARIS PRINTED IN FRANCE
958
JAPANESE ART RELIGIOUS ART BY
ALAIN LEMIERE
TUDOR PUBLISHING CO NEW-YORK
.
Shinto and Buddhism have played such a part
shaping the soul and sensibility of and have so influenced their
in
Japanese,
the
conception and representation of the world, that one cannot form an idea, even a superone. of their art and their civilisation
ficial
without some general understanding of these religions, any more than one can study Romanesque and Gothic art in ignorance of
two
Christianit\
As
the
ancient
myth
has
it.
Japan
was
created by the god Izanagi and the goddess
— the Active — who from on
and the Passive Prinhigh on the floating Bridge of the sky formed the sacred islands from the drops of water that fell from the jewel-lance they had plunged into the great ocean. And from immemorial times the Izanami
ciple
country has been known as " The land of the
Kami
", that is to say.
begotten
Man. life
by the
the supernatural beings
Gods
at
the
Present everywhere, the
into
all
that
exists:
Sun.
same time
Kami Moon,
as
breathe winds,
waters, mountains, animals and plants as well as
the warrior's arms,
the craftsman's tools.
and the kitchen
pots.
And
they dance
in
the
of the lamps.
light
Moreover Shinto Kami became
—
the
— the
Way
of the gods,
especially concerned with
worship of the Emperor, the Tenno, grandson of the Sun Goddess, and with that of the Ancestors become Kami on their deaths, as well as with the worship of Nature, the inexhaustible Life Force animating the the
multitudinous creation.
No
sacred image
in their
temples, but austere
metaphysical symbols: a sword, a mirror, a It was for Nature alone, for Nature and mother, to whom sacred gateways (torii) were erected where the beauty of the world most directly touched the heart of man, to show forth the divine and not for images, since external nature and nature in the heart of man should be one and indivisible in the All. Was not that the symbolic meaning of the Mirror of Truth, one of the three
jewel.
—
virgin
—
" treasures " of Shinto, the mirror to reveal
man's own image?
No
other people shows an equal feeling for
This feeling is so deep and so integral a part of heart and soul that the word " nature " does not exist in the Japanese language. nor is there a word for " fine arts ", Perhaps nature.
the
Japanese
had never
tried
to
dissociate
himself from the world around him and ne