P2+Samurai+Arts

=P2 Samurai Arts= ** Samurai Arts ** What you are going to learn about is Samurai arts. There are three of the samurai art forms, Ikebana, Landscape painting, and Gardens which you will learn about in this essay. You are going to learn about what painting means to a samurai, the art and history of Ikebana, the nature of sacred gardens, and what the “Zen Garden” is. There is also, what the meaning of Shinto gardens is.

Zen Gardens

Some people say it’s just a rectangle shaped piece of land filled with 5 different groups of rocks and white stones covering the ground. The maker of this Garden wanted you to think that, but he also wanted you to look outside the obvious, and make a picture between the lines. This is done by meditating. There is never just one picture in this Garden. It’s like the clouds in the sky. There is never one interpretation of the garden; it changes with where you are sitting, and who is viewing it. If the stones in the Zen garden are moved even an inch it will affect the picture the artist was trying to create. People often call the Zen garden more than just “Zen Garden”. Another name for it is “Sand and Stone garden” or Ryojin. The Zen Garden is symbolic of Zen Spiritualism that was developed in the Muromachi Era.  Gardens There are many different types of gardens in Japan. But all of them seem to collapse into the same meaning. Most gardens are made up of natural things; like water, garden plants, stones, waterfalls, trees, bridges, sand, wood groves, shaded paths, fountains, ponds with golden fish swimming in it, and so on. Sometimes people say that the gardens made by the Japanese are very small, but they’re wrong. What makes the garden look small are the miniature trees growing in it. The purpose of these ancient gardens is to relax your mind. The Tea garden is made up of two spaces, the outer space is for visitors to wait for their host, and the inner space is for guest to celebrate the tea ceremony. Another popular garden is the strolling garden. This is a favorite because of its beautiful nature, as you walk along, changes and gives you something new to see and admire. You might find a strolling garden in a samurai’s back yard. It serves as a hideaway for thoughts and prayers.

The History of Ikebana One of the important samurai practices was the art of Ikebana. Ikebana is Japanese and means “flower arranging”. Ikebana is more complicated than the western style of flower arranging and represents nature and its beauty. There are several different schools of Ikebana. The oldest school is Ikenobo, which was started by a Buddhist monk named Ikenobo Senkei in the 15th century. Ikenobo is the most formal type and uses the rikka or upright design. Seven branches are arranged in a specific way and represent different forms of nature such as hills, waterways, and valleys. A simpler form developed in the 17th century and used only three branches which represented heaven, earth, and man. Ohara is one of the first modern schools of Ikebana, created by Ohara Unshin in the 19th century. This school was influenced by western culture but continued to be very formal and only used by the upper classes. Another school is Sogetsu which was created by Teshigahara Sofu in 1927. It was popular among all social classes and used modern materials such as plastic, plaster, and steel in the flower arrangements.

= The Styles of Ikebana =

There are also two major styles of Ikebana, Moribana and Nageire. These are distinguished by the type of containers used in the flower arrangements. Moribana uses low basins to hold the flowers and is also known as the shallow vase style. The word Moribana means “piled-up flowers” and metal frogs are used to hold up the flowers in the basin. Another meaning for the word Moru is “to serve up” which is interesting because the basin looks like a serving plate of rice. These flowers are arranged in either upright or slanting styles (branches are slanted instead of flowers). The other major type of Ikebana is Nageire which is often used in tea ceremonies. It is different form Moribana because flowers are contained in a taller vase and so it is also known as the tall vase style. The name Nageire means “tossed in flowers” and there are no metal frogs or holders to keep the flowers in place. Whatever the style or school, Ikebana flower arrangements have traditionally been displayed in the Tokonoma or spiritual part of the Japanese home and have been a significant part of the samurai lifestyle.

Painting One of the many leisure's of the Samurai is painting. Samurai's found painting as a way to express their inner selves. Paintings were usually portraits of famous Buddhist priests, intense battles, important rulers, exaggerated scenic landscape paintings of shrines and castles. Hanging scrolls, walls, doors, screens are usually the main things that were painted. The most common material to paint on was paper, silk and screens made out of cypress tree. Japanese used small brushes with quick strokes to paint. Most paintings consisted of red, black, brown and green colors. In years Japanese art has changed. Japanese art is from Chinese art, but later became and developed its own style. Chinese paintings have more animals and nature seens well Japanese art focuses on important rulers.

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