NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Culture of Japan Because of its isolation from continental influences, Japan has developed a unique and fascinating culture, in which thousand years old traditions and customs are combined with wide using of modern technologies and innovations in every minute of peoples daily life. That is why Japan can be named as a country of contradictions, and there is hardly possible to find another place on earth overflowing with more differences and contrasts. Japan with the population exceeding 125 million is famous with its extreme high inhabitants density. But there are large areas with relatively low density, like national parks and nature reserves.
Three fourths of people live in urban and industrial territories. And both in modern metropolises and in rural countryside people demonstrate significant cultural and national unity. Only 1 % of population of Japan is non-aborigines. Prevalent religion in Japan is called Buddhism. Before the World War II there were two dominant branches of religion, both provided with sets of customs and rituals: Shinto, religion of life, which meant the faith in a living God, who supervised an individuals daily acts with the help of his spirits, kami, and Buddhism, the religion of death, concentrated on previous and future lives.
But after the defeat in the war, religion (especially Shinto) and faith lost the value among the Japanese, for the majority of them it became something more traditional and customary, than sacred and spiritual. Nevertheless, a big number of rituals live on, supported by periodical rises of popularity of different religious flows (like shaky, shin). Japanese language plays a very important role in the culture. It is supposed to be one of the hardest on earth because of complicated writing and the variety of verbal items, but as to pronunciation it is not very difficult. There are many styles of speaking (Manual, Nemavashi, Touch, Be) which depend on the mood, level of respect to the opponent of the speech or just the sense of humor, with which the Japanese are famous. Japanese literature did not gain proper worldwide popularity, but there are many works of such writers like Mishima Yukio, Murakami Ryu, Abe Kobo, or Murakami Haruki, translated into foreign languages and known abroad.
There are two Japanese owners of the Nobel Prize in literature: Kawabata Yasunari won it in 1968, and Oe Kenzaburo - in 1994. Neo-sensualism and naturalism, which dominated in Japanese literature in the middle of XX century, were lately replaced by new modern styles, presenting quite a variety of works. Likely to whole the culture, Japanese art expresses a lot of exceptionally and polarity. Art of the islands has been developing under the effect of repeated historical periods of broad influence of continental culture, followed by decades of isolation. First records of Japanese are can be dated by 7 th 8 th centuries AD, those are antiques, connected with religion, which demonstrate obvious copying of Chinese artifacts.
Until the 15 th century spiritual and religious motives were dominant in arts. Later on, when Tokugawa clan took over the power in Japan, the country underwent tremendous economical, political, social changes, which found reflection in art with its becoming more and more secular. Art of the following centuries can be characterized by plenty of contrasts. For example, two architectural monuments of 16 th century: Nikko Toshogu Mausoleum is a sample of austere symmetrical style with strict lines and severe mosaic, at the same time Katsura Palace represents simplicity and naturalness, it looks like it was created by Mother nature itself. Nevertheless, in general, simplicity and minimalism enriched with flamboyant ornaments and colorful paintings are distinguishing features of Japanese art of the latest centuries. In some last decades the influence of Western flows in art is obvious.
The most developed and advanced craft is painting. Numerous amateur and professional painters prefer using brash and paints for their works, which brings naturalism and vividness. There is a great amount of special brush techniques invented and mastered by Japanese artists. In recent history of arts there are two famous schools of painting, using specific methods in their work. First is Ukiyo-e school, using a wood-block prints of the demimonde. The other school is Bunjinga, followers of which used to find inspiration in Chinese culture; they used mixed styles in their paintings.
Also, processing of ceramic and its decoration was very spread in Japan. It is one of the earliest crafts known in their culture. There are some worldwide famous exclusive Japanese art crafts, the most known of which are ikebana and origami. Ikebana is a skill to arrange flowers. The roots of it are going into 15 th- 16 th centuries, when first styles of ritual decorating of Buddhist temples with flowers appeared. Ikebana teaches how to create harmonically balanced compositions including not only flowers, but also leaves, branches, grasses, vases.
Ikebana is a deep art and strictly differs from continental imagination. The westerners tend to advantage the colors and beauty of the flowers, to give fresh and natural look to their arrangements. The Japanese try to put emphasis on rhythmical and linear structure of the composition. The whole technique of ikebana is based on three directions of symbolization of Skies, Earth and Humankind. Origami is an art of folding paper and creating little designs this way. A square sheet of paper, taken as a base, must be folded: traditionally with a little number of folds, but modern craft supposes infinite amount of folds, allowing creating of complicated figures.
Origami takes source from the works of 17 th - 18 th century, which were more tolerant to modern rules and frequently allowed cutting of paper, use different colors or starting shape of a sheet. There is a worldwide known legend about Japanese paper crane and a girl, dying from leukemia after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. She wanted to fold a thousand cranes to survive, but managed to make only 644. Japanese paper crane became a symbol of peace. Sports gain extreme popularity and importance in Japan. Baseball, though even being not originally Japanese, attracts the most of attention.
There are two baseball professional leagues in the country. European soccer is getting more and more fashionable, especially after the World Cup which took place in Japan in 2002. Together with these, national traditional wrestling Sumo is risen almost till the level of art. Every year there are 6 basho (tournaments) bringing a lot of money for organizers and participants and a lot of satisfaction for spectators. Also there is a big trend to go in for sports in everyday life. There is a great amount of sport-clubs, offering lessons on traditional fights (Kung Fu, Judo, Karate, etc. ).
Japanese culture includes unique traditional clothing, the Kimono: a special dress which has no buttons, it wraps the body from left to the right and can be fixed with the help of special belts, sash or obi. There is a huge variety of kimonos by cut, fabric, colors. Kimono for a woman will depend on her age and marital status, and also the occasion. A young not married girl wears kimonos of bright colors, with long sleeves and laps.
A married woman wears short sleeved less bright kimonos. Men mostly wear kimonos of white or grey colors and more sever in style. Yukata is a summer kimono made of light cotton. For kimono both men and women wear take, socks with a split toe, and traditional wooden shoes get or zone. Traditional Japanese cuisine is based on sea-food and rice, with a great deal of typical dishes and special ceremonies of eating. The best places to try some popular Japanese meals like Sushi, sashimi or tempura (all made of raw sea-food) are kate-zus bars.
The majority of such little restaurants focus on one or two main dishes. There you will be offered to eat with chopsticks, which are a customary way of eating for Japan people. However, European and Oriental style of meals are also popular. There are a lot of American fast-food restaurants like McDonalds. The Japanese are very conservative to their traditions about eating. A special set of meals ose chi is being prepared for New Years Day; it includes soup with rice cakes mochi, dishes from vegetables ozone and tuna fish kobumaki.
Alcoholic drinks are popular: traditional Sake (rice vodka), different sorts of beers, and Scotch whisky. Traditional ritual of Japanese tea ceremony deserves a special attention. This ceremony is one of the most precious for the Japanese and it has more than 10 centuries of history and development. It requires a lot of special detailed knowledge, practice and skills from all the participants. There are types of the ceremony, like Chabako deal, Hakobi deal, Ryu-rei, etc.
To arrange a good tea ceremony, a great deal of equipment is necessary: some tea pots usu cha (can be chosen from chain, fukuda, tana, chain), special tea caddies natsume, scoops chas haku and whisks case. Traditionally the ceremony must be held in a separated room; the participants need to wear kimonos and sit on a special tatami. The host of the ceremony first cleans the supplies, arranges the tea and serves it, sometimes with special sweets kaiser. The ritual allows minimum of talks and can last from one to four hours. There is absolute combination of old traditions and modern styles in social culture.
The Japanese like spending their free time in cinemas, restaurants with karaoke, bowling clubs or special game centers, where they play show or go. Though they are supposed to be one of the most workaholic nations, people spend a lot of time watching TV, listening to music or reading comics, which helps to relax and have rest from fast rhythm of their life. Good manners play a central role in Japanese social culture, and there are some strict rules of behavior, which must be followed. When giving greetings, one must bow, and the deeper respect to the opponent, the deeper the bow must be. When addressing to someone, affix san must be added to surname, demonstrating reverence. Guests must remove the shoes before entering a house or some hotels and restaurants.
Exchanging of business cards is a special ceremony: after receiving a business card, one must bow and examine the card with interest, showing respect. There is a very spread tradition of giving small presents and souvenirs for memory about the meeting. So, when dealing with the Japanese it is always preferable to demonstrate high morality and respect. Thus, traditional Japanese culture is very rich and diversified, and it is rather different from continental. Japanese people are the models of etiquette and respectful behavior, that is why they used to express extreme tolerance to numerous foreigners, who are not familiar with those unique features of Japanese culture. Bibliography: Culture of Japan.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. September 28, 2004, from the World Wide Web: web Japanese Culture. Inside Japan Tours. Autumn, 2004, from the World Wide Web: web JP NET Kimono Hypertext. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. October 12, 1999, from the World Wide Web: web Tea Ceremony.
TeaHyakka Magazine. August 8, 2004, from the World Wide Web: web
Free research essays on topics related to: japanese art, 2004 from the world wide, japanese culture, traditional japanese, tea ceremony
Research essay sample on 2004 From The World Wide Tea Ceremony
