P1+Samurai+Arts

P1 Samurai Arts __Samurai Arts__

By: Harrison Z. Cole S.

Samurai were not just brutal warriors. Samurai could switch from being fierce on the battlefield to being artistic, calm, precise, and at peace. Haiku was a form of poetry that reflected a samurai’s personality, and revealed his artistic side. Yamato-e painting was the Japanese form of painting, and taught the samurai to be calm and to make precise brush strokes. Rock gardens symbolized Zen spiritualism, and told the samurai to be calm on the battlefield. Ikebana is the art of arranging flowers into the perfect position, and became part of the tea ceremony. One of the things a samurai had to learn to do was to compose a successful haiku poem.

Haiku developed from the renga tradition. It became the central poetic style of the early modern period. The Tanka poetry form was given up for the shorter haiku poetry. Haikai no renga (later shortened to haikai) was the formal name for haiku at that time. Haikai no renga poetry had 17 syllables, and repeated stanzas of 5, 7, and 5 syllables followed by two 7-syllable lines. The famous poet, Matsuo Basho was a samurai, turned poet and traveler. Basho was able to compose poems that contained very simple images, but carried the power to suggest larger truths and produce a wide range of human emotions. In addition to being poets, samurai were also painters.

Yamato-e painting was a Japanese style painting. There were 5 major painting formats. Emakimono-which was hand scroll painting, Kakemono or Kakejiku (hanging scroll painting), Hekiga (wall painting), Byobu (screen painting), and Fusuma (sliding door painting). Emakimono was composed on pieces of silk or paper that attached horizontally comprised Japanese hand scrolls, which were fastened on the left side to a dowel-like rod called a jiku. For hanging scroll painting, the center panel of the scroll consists of a piece of silk or paper on which the image is rendered. Screen, door, and wall paintings were executed on paper-covered sliding doors, freestanding folding screens, freestanding single panel screens, and sometimes directly onto walls. Creating the perfect rock garden was just as important as painting.

Rock gardens were developed in the Muromachi Era and represented Zen spiritualism. It was originally created as a place where monks could meditate, because of the peacefulness. That is why rock gardens are mostly found in Zen monasteries. Rock gardens were very peaceful gardens. The sand gave off a feeling of space and emptiness, which allowed the visitor to clear their mind of the outside world. The rocks of the garden were placed so that you could not see all the rocks at one time. In the Ryoanji temple, the rocks in the garden are seen as symbols, representing a tigress crossing the sea with her cubs. There are five groups of fifteen stones that are arranged in groups of two, three, and five. Although the art of Ikebana flower arrangement wasn't as peaceful as a rock garden, it was something a samurai strived for perfection on.

Ikebana flower arrangement has been practiced in Japan for over 600 years. It was developed from the Buddhist ritual of handing out flowers to the dead’s spirits. By the mid-1500’s, Ikebana received the status of an art form independent of its religious origins, but continued to achieve strong symbolic and philosophical overtones. The first teachers and students of Ikebana were priests and members of the nobility. As time passed, different forms of Ikebana were created and designs were changed, and Ikebana came to be practiced at all levels of Japanese society. Ikebana became a major part of traditional festivals. During the Momoyama period in Japan (1560-1600), many castles were built. The rikka Ikebana style was the most appropriate decoration for the castles. The Momoyama style was most recognizable by its excessive décor, and made its way into part of the tea ceremony.

In conclusions, the samurai weren’t just warriors that fought with swords and had armor. The samurai, in addition to training, had an artistic side to him. Ikebana, landscape painting, rock gardens, and haiku were what made a samurai, a samurai.

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