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GLOSSARY
Japanese painting
Japanese painting can be divided broadly into two main categories : the nanga schools, which drew their original inspiration from the art of China,and the Japanese schools, which were either a blending of Chinese and Japanese styles (Kano school) or purely Japanese (Yamatoe, Tosa and Korin ).The very earliest Japanese painting was Buddhist in inspiration and, as in the case of Japanese sculpture, the images were Chinese or Korean with Indo-European influence. Yamatoe, a purely Japanese style of painting, did not develop until the age of the Fujiwara regents (10th and 11th centuries); it flourished into the 15th and 16th centuries, having merged into the Tosa school, and then faded somewhat due to the changing taste of the times. Chinese painting returned to popularity in the wake of a profound movement towards Zen Buddhism among the then dominant military class.The Kano school was founded in the early 16th century by a professional painter, Kano Masanobu (1434-1530). The first Kano paintings were Buddhistic in theme and somewhat restrained, but within two generations,under the patronage of the dynamic and unrestrained military leaders of the Momoyama period,the Kano style had developed into one of great splendour and massive scale . During the early part of the Edo period, the Kano family were official court painters but, before the end of the 17th century, their style again changed, reverting back to the severity of the 16th century, and their influence waned. At the same time the Tosa school,though surviving, was not producing works of major influence or importance.From this rather stagnant situation rose the brilliant school of Korin,Founded by Tawaraya Sotatsu, the school-or rather the movement - included a trio of great artists: Honami Koetsu , Ogata Kenzan and his brother Ogata Korin. All three worked in a variety of media, creating a uniquely bold, yet tasteful, decorative style.After the Meiji restoration, the techniques of Western painting were rapidly assimilated into Japanese art, either in part or wholly. The effect of this on Japanese traditional painters was seen in subtle changes of technique and the enhancement of real-ism ; this movement is represented by the schools of Maruyama and Shijo.