The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world.

Historical overview

The ancestry of Japanese people remains mysterious; however, there are two competing hypotheses that try to explain the lineage of the Japanese people. The first hypothesis proposes a dual-structure model, in which Japanese populations are descendants of the indigenous Jomon people and later arrivals of people from the East Eurasian continent, known as the

Yayoi The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon p ...

people. Japan's indigenous culture originates primarily from the Yayoi people who settled in Japan between 1000 BCE and 300 CE. Yayoi culture spread to the main island of Honshū, mixing with the native Jōmon culture. Modern Japanese have an estimated 80% Yayoi and 20% Jōmon ancestry. The second hypothesis posits a tripartite model of genomic origin. This hypothesis proposes that contemporary Japanese people are from three distinct ancestral groups: Jomon, Yayoi and Kofun, with 13%, 16% and 71% of genetic ancestry, respectively. During the Kofun period, it is said that migrant groups from China came to Japan and settled on the island, bringing with them various cultural advances and centralized leadership. The migrants who came to Japan during the Kofun period appear to have had ancestry that mainly resembles the ancestry of the

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctiv ...

population of China. The Jomon people were

hunter-gather A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle (sociology), lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants bu ...

s; the Yayoi people introduced rice cultivation; and the Kofun migrants introduced imperial state formation. Japanese culture was influenced from ancient times to the Middle Ages primarily by multiple

Chinese dynasties Dynasties in Chinese history, or Chinese dynasties, were hereditary monarchical regimes that ruled over China during much of its history. From the legendary inauguration of dynastic rule by Yu the Great circa 2070 BC to the abdication of t ...

, with substantial derivation from the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

, and to a lesser extent by other Asian countries. For example, one of the scripts for writing in the

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

is Chinese characters (

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

), but Japanese has no genetic relationship with

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

. Since the Meiji era Japan has been primarily influenced by

western countries The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

. The inhabitants of Japan experienced a long period of relative isolation from the outside world for over 220 years during the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

until the arrival of the " Black Ships" and the Meiji era. Today, the culture of Japan stands as one of the most influential cultures around the world, mainly because of the global reach of its

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

. In 2021, U.S. News & World Report ranked Japan's cultural influence as the highest in Asia and 5th worldwide.

Language

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

is the national and primary language of Japan. Japanese has a lexically distinct pitch-accent system. Early Japanese is known largely on the basis of its state in the 8th century when the three major works of

Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial. Old Jap ...

were compiled. The earliest attestation of the Japanese language is in a Chinese document from 256 AD. The Japanese language has no genetic relationship with Chinese, but neither does it have any clear affiliation with any other language. There are a number of theories about the origins of Japanese, but the strongest arguments for affiliation are with Korean, on the basis of similar syntax, and with

Altaic languages Altaic (; also called Transeurasian) is a controversial proposed language family that would include the Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic language families and possibly also the Japonic and Koreanic languages. Speakers of these languages are ...

, on the basis of similar number systems and verb forms. Japanese is written with a combination of three scripts:

hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...

and

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived f ...

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

, or , are extensively used in Japanese writing as non-phonetic ideograms, imported from China to Japan in 50 AD; before that time, Japan had no system of writing. In the present day, there is a notable number of kanji in modern Japanese with a different meaning from the corresponding character used in modern Chinese. Modern Japanese also features far fewer

simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters used in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore, as prescribed by the ''Table of General Standard Chinese Characters''. Along with traditional Chinese characters, they are one o ...

in comparison to modern Chinese; Japanese people typically use fewer kanji in general and use them mainly for

nouns A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...

stems, and

verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...

stems. Japanese vocabulary consists of 49% words of Chinese origin, 33% words of Japanese origin, and 18% loanwords from other languages, which include

European languages Most languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. Within Indo-European, the three largest phyla are Ro ...

, words of mixed origin and the made-in-Japan pseudo-English known as

wasei-eigo are Japanese-language expressions based on English words, or parts of word combinations, that do not exist in standard English or whose meanings differ from the words from which they were derived. Linguistics classifies them as pseudo-loanwords ...

. Both hiragana and katakana are phonetic syllabaries derived from the Chinese of the 5th century. Hiragana and katakana were developed from simplified kanji; hiragana emerged somewhere around the 9th century and were mainly used by women for informal language, with katakana mainly used by men for formal language. By the 10th century, both were commonly used by everyone. The

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and th ...

is often used in modern Japanese, especially for company names and logos, advertising, and when inputting Japanese into a computer. The Hindu–Arabic numerals are generally used for numbers, but traditional Sino–Japanese numerals are common. The influence of Japanese culture on the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

over the past few centuries has led to many of its terms, such as

origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a f ...

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music i ...

and pop cultural terms like shonen and shojo, being incorporated into the English language, as well as being added to the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

Religion

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

are the primary religions of Japan. According to the annual statistical research on religion in 2018 by the

Government of Japan The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary stat ...

's Agency for Culture Affairs, 66.7 percent of the population practices

, 69.0 percent practices Shintoism, 7.7 percent other religions. Minority Christian and Islamic communities exist. According to the annual statistical research on religion in 2018 by the Agency for Culture Affairs,

, about two million or slightly 1.5% of Japan's population are

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

. Muslims (70,000) are made up of largely immigrant communities, as well as, though much smaller, the ethnic Japanese community.

Shinto

Shinto is an ethnic religion focusing on ceremonies and rituals. In Shinto, followers believe that – Shinto deities or spirits – are present throughout nature, including rocks, trees, and mountains. Humans can also be considered to possess a . One of the goals of Shinto is to maintain or strengthen the connection between humans, nature, and . The religion developed in Japan prior to the 6th century CE, after which point followers built shrines to worship .

Buddhism

Buddhism developed in India around the 6th and 4th centuries BCE and eventually spread through China and Korea. It arrived in Japan during the 6th century CE, where it was initially unpopular. Most Japanese people were unable to understand the difficult philosophical messages present in Buddhism; however, an appreciation for the religion's art is believed to have led to Buddhism later growing in popularity. Buddhism is concerned with the

cycle of rebirth Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the Philosophy, philosophical or Religion, religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or physical body, body after ...

and

karma Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptivel ...

. In Buddhism, a person's status in society is considered unimportant, instead his good or bad deeds are valued, as every person eventually becomes ill, ages, dies, and is eventually reincarnated into a new life, a cycle known as ; the suffering people experience during life is considered to be one way for people to ensure a better future, with the ultimate goal of Buddhism being to escape the cycle of death and rebirth by attaining true insight.

National character

The Japanese "national character" has been written about under the term , literally meaning "theories/discussions about the Japanese people" and referring to texts on matters that are normally the concerns of sociology, psychology, history, linguistics, and philosophy, but emphasizing the authors' assumptions or perceptions of Japanese exceptionalism; these are predominantly written in Japan by Japanese people, though noted examples have also been written by foreign residents, journalists and even scholars.

Literature

Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

. Eventually, Japanese literature developed into a separate style in its own right as Japanese writers began writing their own works about Japan. The Tale of Genji, written by

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court in the Heian period. She is best known as the author of '' The Tale of Genji,'' widely considered to be one of the world's first novels, written in Japanese between abou ...

during the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

, is known worldwide as a unique Japanese literature. Since Japan reopened its ports to Western trading and diplomacy in the 19th century, Western and Eastern literature have strongly affected each other and continue to do so.

Visual arts

Kunimasa - taikan, The actor Ichikawa Ebizo in a shibaraku role, 1796

Japanese calligraphy, rendered using flowing, brush-drawn strokes, is considered to be a traditional art form, as well as a means of conveying written information. Typical calligraphic works can consist of phrases, poems, stories, or even characters represented by themselves; the style and format of the calligraphy can mimic the subject matter through aspects such as the texture of the writing and the speed of the brush strokes. Several different styles of Japanese calligraphy exist, with considerable effort put into the outcome; in some cases, it can take over one hundred attempts to produce the desired result of a single character. This form of calligraphy is known as , literally meaning 'the way of writing or calligraphy', or more commonly, , 'learning how to write characters'. Commonly confused with calligraphy is the art form of , literally meaning 'ink painting', which is the art of painting a scene or object using diluted black ink. Painting has been an art in Japan for a very long time: the brush is a traditional writing and painting tool, and the extension of that to its use as an artist's tool was probably natural. Japanese painters are often categorized by what they painted, as most of them constrained themselves solely to subjects such as animals, landscapes, or figures. Chinese papermaking was introduced to Japan around the 7th century. Later, was developed from it. Native Japanese painting techniques are still in use today, as well as techniques adopted from continental Asia and from the West. Schools of painting such as the Kano school of the 16th century became known for their bold brush strokes and contrast between light and dark, especially after Oda Nobunaga and

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

began to use this style. Famous Japanese painters include

Kanō Sanraku was a Japanese painter also known as Kimura Heizō (his birth name), Shūri, Mitsuyori, and Sanraku. Sanraku's works combine the forceful quality of Momoyama work with the tranquil depiction of nature, and they have a more refined use of color ...

Maruyama Ōkyo , born Maruyama Masataka, was a Japanese artist active in the late 18th century. He moved to Kyoto, during which he studied artworks from Chinese, Japanese and Western sources. A personal style of Western naturalism mixed with Eastern deco ...

, and

Tani Bunchō was a Japanese literati (''bunjin'') painter and poet. Biography He was the son of the poet Tani Rokkoku (1729–1809). As his family were retainers of the Tayasu Family of descendants of the eighth Tokugawa ''shōgun'', Bunchō inherited ...

. , literally "pictures of the floating world", is a genre of

woodblock prints Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is crea ...

that exemplifies the characteristics of pre-Meiji Japanese art. Because these prints could be mass-produced, they were available to a wide cross-section of the Japanese populace — those not wealthy enough to afford original paintings — during their heyday, from the 17th to 20th century.

Japanese lacquerware is a Japanese craft with a wide range of fine and decorative arts, as lacquer has been used in '' urushi-e'', prints, and on a wide variety of objects from Buddha statues to ''bento'' boxes for food. The characteristic of Japanese lacquerwar ...

and

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

have historically gained international fame, and lacquerware has been actively exported since the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

and ceramics since the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

. Japanese crafts became known in Europe after

Nanban trade or the , was a period in the history of Japan from the arrival of Europeans in 1543 to the first '' Sakoku'' Seclusion Edicts of isolationism in 1614. Nanban (南蛮 Lit. "Southern barbarian") is a Japanese word which had been used to desig ...

. is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. It has gained widespread international fame for its focus on harmony, color use, rhythm, and elegantly simple design. It is an art centered greatly on expressing the seasons and is meant to act as a symbol to something greater than the flower itself.

Traditional clothing

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako in formal wedding robes

The

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...

is the national garment of Japan, having developed from Chinese court clothing in the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the c ...

(

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

China) following the exchange of diplomatic envoys between the two countries at that time. The word ''kimono'' translates literally as "thing to wear on the shoulders"; however, this term developed some time around the Edo period, before which most kimono-like garments were referred to as the ("short sleeve"), with longer-sleeved garments being known as ("swinging sleeve"). The earliest versions of the kimono were heavily influenced by traditional Chinese clothing, known today as ( in Japanese). This influence was spread through Japanese envoy missions to China, resulting in extensive Chinese cultural adoption by Japan as early as the 5th century AD.Dalby, Liza (2001). Kimono: Fashioning Culture. Seattle: University of Washington Press. . OCLC 46793052. It was during the 8th century, however, that Chinese fashions came fully into style, and following the cancellation of the 20th mission to Tang dynasty China, these fashions developed independently, with the overlapping, V-shaped collar becoming women's fashion and the precursor to the modern kimono. Kimono, alongside all other items of traditional Japanese clothing, are known collectively as , meaning "Japanese clothing", as opposed to , Western-style clothing. Kimono come in a variety of colors, styles, and sizes. Men mainly wear darker or more muted colors, while women tend to wear brighter colors and pastels, and, especially for younger women, often with complicated abstract or floral patterns. In previous decades, married women wore short sleeved kimono, whereas unmarried women wore long sleeved kimono to both formal and informal occasions; however, the rise in both the average age of marriage and the numbers of women never marrying in Japan has led to the divide between sleeve length becoming one more of age, with most women in their early twenties wearing long sleeved kimono only to formal occasions, and most women past their early twenties wearing short sleeved kimono to formal events. Other developments include the abandoning of layered kimono and the standardisation of the length of short sleeved women's kimono to a range of roughly to in length, both developments driven by fabric shortages in WWII. The coat is another form of traditional clothing. A (commonly Westernised as "happy") coat is a straight sleeved coat typically decorated with a family crest and/or kanji along the collar. In previous centuries, -style coats known as or simply were commonly worn by firefighters; the coats would be constructed from several layers of heavy cotton stitched together, and would be soaked in water to provide protection from fire. Alongside traditional clothing, Japan also has distinct footwear; , ankle-length split-toed socks, are commonly worn with the kimono, and are designed to be worn with traditional shoes such as

geta Geta may refer to: Places *Geta (woreda), a woreda in Ethiopia's Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region *Geta, Åland, a municipality in Finland *Geta, Nepal, a town in Attariya Municipality, Kailali District, Seti Zone, Nepal *Get� ...

and

zōri Zori (), also rendered as zōri ( ja, , ), are thonged Japanese sandals made of rice straw, cloth, lacquered wood, leather, rubber, or—most commonly and informally—synthetic materials. They are a slip-on descendant of the tied-on sandal. ...

. Geta are thonged sandals mounted on wooden blocks extending from the base of the shoe to the floor, and are worn by men and women with kimono or ; zōri are flat-based or sloping sandals made of a number of different materials, and are considered to be more formal than geta.

Installation arts

Japanese architecture was originally heavily influenced by

Chinese architecture Chinese architecture ( Chinese:中國建築) is the embodiment of an architectural style that has developed over millennia in China and it has influenced architecture throughout Eastern Asia. Since its emergence during the early ancient era, ...

and later developed many unique aspects indigenous to Japan. Examples of traditional architecture are seen at

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

, Shinto shrines, and

castles A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

and

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

. Some of these buildings are constructed with traditional gardens, which are influenced by

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

ideas. Some modern architects, such as

Yoshio Taniguchi Yoshio Taniguchi (谷口吉生, ''Taniguchi Yoshio''; born 1937) is a Japanese architect best known for his redesign of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, which was reopened November 20, 2004. Critics have emphasized Taniguchi's fusion ...

and Tadao Ando are known for their amalgamation of Japanese traditional and Western architectural influences. Traditional Japanese garden architecture is considered to hold the same importance as traditional building architecture, and both are influenced by similar historical and religious backgrounds. A primary design principle of a traditional garden is the creation of the landscape based on, or at least greatly influenced by, the style of three-dimensional monochrome ink () landscape painting known as or ; as such, garden landscaping is elevated to the status of an artform in Japan. Traditional

Japanese sculpture Sculpture in Japan began with the clay figure. Towards the end of the long Neolithic Jōmon period, some pottery vessels were "flame-rimmed" with extravagant extensions to the rim that can only be called sculptural, and very stylized pottery dog ...

s mainly focused on Buddhist images, such as Tathagata,

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

, and Myō-ō. The oldest sculpture in Japan is a wooden statue of Amitābha at the

Zenkō-ji is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Nagano, Japan. The temple was built in the 7th century. The modern city of Nagano began as a town built around the temple. Historically, Zenkō-ji is perhaps most famous for its involvement in the b ...

temple. In the Nara period, Buddhist statues were made by the national government to boost its prestige. These examples are seen in present-day Nara and Kyoto, most notably a colossal bronze statue of the Buddha

Vairocana Vairocana (also Mahāvairocana, sa, वैरोचन) is a cosmic buddha from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Vairocana is often interpreted, in texts like the ''Avatamsaka Sutra'', as the dharmakāya of the historical Gautama Buddha. In East ...

in the

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Japan. Though it was originally founded in the year 738 CE, Tōdai-ji was not opened until the year 752 CE. The temple has undergo ...

temple. Wood has traditionally been used as the chief material in Japan, along with traditional Japanese architecture. Statues are often

lacquered Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be ca ...

, gilded, or brightly painted, although there are commonly few traces of this on the surface. Bronze and other metals are generally not used. Other materials, such as

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

and

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

, have had extremely important roles in traditional sculpture. File:Horyu-ji45s2s4500.jpg,

Hōryū-ji is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its full name is , or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law, the complex serving as both a seminary and monastery. The temple was ...

is widely known to be the oldest wooden architecture existing in the world. File:Ritsurin.JPG,

Ritsurin Garden is a large, historic garden in Takamatsu, Japan. It was completed in 1745 as a private strolling garden and villa for the local feudal lords, and opened to the public in 1875. Ritsurin is one of the largest strolling gardens in Japan, and a m ...

File:NaraTodaijiStatue0214.jpg, Guardian in

Music

Fumie Hihara, au shamisen (danse du Kabuki, musée Guimet)

The music of Japan includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

and

modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

. The word for music in Japanese is , combining the kanji with the kanji . Japan is the second largest

music market The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, trai ...

in the world behind the United States, and is the largest in Asia, with most of the market dominated by

Japanese artists This is a list of Japanese artists. This list is intended to encompass Japanese who are primarily fine artists. For information on those who work primarily in film, television, advertising, manga, anime, video games, or performance arts, please se ...

. Local music often appears at

venues on lease from

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

Traditional Japanese music Traditional Japanese music is the folk or traditional music of Japan. Japan's Ministry of Education classifies as a category separate from other traditional forms of music, such as (court music) or (Buddhist chanting), but most ethnomusicolo ...

is quite different from Western Music and is based on the intervals of human breathing rather than mathematical timing; traditional music also typically slides between notes, a feature also not commonly found in Western music.

Performing arts

The four traditional theatres from Japan are

noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

(or ), ,

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance- drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is though ...

, and . Noh had its origins in the union of the , with music and dance made by

Kan'ami was a Japanese Noh actor, author, and musician during the Muromachi period. Born in Iga Province, Kan'ami also went by and . He is the father of the well-known playwright . Theater Kan'ami's career began in Obata, Nabari-shi, Mie when he fo ...

and

Zeami Motokiyo (c. 1363 – c. 1443), also called , was a Japanese Aesthetics, aesthetician, actor, and playwright. His father, Kan'ami, Kan'ami Kiyotsugu, introduced him to Noh theater performance at a young age, and found that he was a skilled actor. Kan ...

. Among the characteristic aspects of it are the masks, costumes, and the stylized gestures, sometimes accompanied by a fan that can represent other objects. The Noh programs are presented in alternation with the ones of , traditionally in numbers of five, but currently in groups of three. The , of a humorous character, had an older origin, in 8th century entertainment brought from China, developing itself in . In , masks are rarely used and even if the plays can be associated with the ones of noh, currently many are not. Kabuki appears in the beginning of the Edo period from the representations and dances of

Izumo no Okuni was a Japanese shrine maiden who is believed to have invented the theatrical art form of kabuki. She is thought to have begun performing her new art style of (lit., "the art of singing and dancing") theatre in the dry riverbed of the Kamo R ...

in Kyoto. Due to concerns over the number of actresses engaged in selling sex, the participation of women in the plays was forbidden by the government in 1629, and the feminine characters had passed to be represented only by men (). Recent attempts to reintroduce actresses in kabuki had not been well accepted. Another characteristic of kabuki is the use of makeup for the actors in historical plays () and the performance of ballads. Japanese puppet theater () developed in the same period as kabuki, in both competition with and collaboration with its actors and authors. The origin of , however, is older, beginning in the Heian period. In 1914, the

Takarazuka Revue The is a Japanese all-female musical theatre troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals and stories adapted from films, novels, manga, and Japa ...

was founded, a company solely composed by women who introduced the

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own dur ...

to Japan.

Sports and leisure

In the long feudal period governed by the

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

class, some methods that were used to train warriors were developed into well-ordered martial arts, in modern times referred to collectively as . Examples include , and sumo, all of which were established in the Edo period. After the rapid social change in the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, some martial arts changed into modern sports, called .

Judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

was developed by Kanō Jigorō, who studied some sects of jujutsu. These sports are still widely practiced in present-day Japan and other countries.

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, and other popular western sports were imported to Japan in the Meiji period. These sports are commonly practiced in schools, along with traditional martial arts. Baseball, soccer, football, and ping pong are the most popular sports in Japan. Association football gained prominence in Japan after the J League ( Japan Professional Football League) was established in 1991. Japan also co-hosted the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

. In addition, there are many semi-professional organizations, which are sponsored by private companies: for example, volleyball, basketball,

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

, table tennis, and so on.

Cuisine

Through a long culinary past, the Japanese have developed sophisticated and refined cuisine. In more recent years, Japanese food has become fashionable and popular in the United States, Europe, and many other areas. Dishes such as

sushi is a Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is "sushi rice," also ...

tempura is a typical Japanese dish usually consisting of seafood, meat and vegetables that have been battered and deep fried. The dish was introduced by the Portuguese in Nagasaki through fritter-cooking techniques in the 16th century. The word ...

noodles Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures (for example, Chinese noodles, Filipino noodles, Ind ...

, and

teriyaki ''Teriyaki'' (kanji: 照り焼き) is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled with a glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Fish – yellowtail, marlin, skipjack tuna, salmon, trout, and mac ...

are some of the foods that are commonly known. The Japanese diet consists principally of rice; fresh, lean seafood; and pickled or boiled vegetables. The Japanese diet is often believed to be related to the longevity of Japanese people.

Popular culture

Japanese popular culture not only reflects the attitudes and concerns of the present day but also provides a link to the past. Popular films, television programs, manga, music,

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

and

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

all developed from older artistic and literary traditions, and many of their themes and styles of presentation can be traced to traditional art forms. Contemporary forms of popular culture, much like the traditional forms, provide not only entertainment but also an escape for the contemporary Japanese from the problems of an industrial world. Many anime and manga are very popular around the world and continue to become popular, as well as Japanese video games, fashion, and game shows. In the late 1980s, the family was the focus of leisure activities, such as excursions to parks or shopping districts. Although Japan is often thought of as a hard-working society with little time for leisure, the Japanese seek entertainment wherever they can. It is common to see Japanese commuters riding the train to work, enjoying their favorite manga, or listening through earphones to the latest in popular music. A wide variety of types of popular entertainment are available. There is a large selection of music, films, and the products of a huge manga and anime industry, among other forms of entertainment, from which to choose. Game centers, bowling alleys, and karaoke are popular hangout places for teens while older people may play or in specialized parlors. Together, the publishing, film/video, music/audio, and game industries in Japan make up the growing Japanese content industry.

Cultural landscapes

There are 51 official in Japan. These landscapes evolved with the way of life and geocultural features of a region, and which are indispensable for understanding the lifestyle of the

Japanese people The are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Japanese archipelago."人類学上は，旧石器時代あるいは縄文時代以来，現在の北海道〜沖縄諸島（南西諸島）に住んだ集団を祖先にもつ人々。" () Jap ...

. The is the canonical list of Japan's three most celebrated scenic sights, attributed to 1643 scholar

Hayashi Gahō , also known as Hayashi Shunsai, 林春斎, , was a Japanese Neo-Confucian philosopher and writer in the system of higher education maintained by the Tokugawa ''bakufu'' during the Edo period. He was a member of the Hayashi clan of Confucian ...

. These are the pine-clad islands of Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture, the pine-clad sandbar of

Amanohashidate Amanohashidate (天橋立 ja, Heaven's bridge) is one of Japan's three scenic views. The sandbar is located in Miyazu Bay in northern Kyoto Prefecture. It forms part of the Tango-Amanohashidate-Ōeyama Quasi-National Park. Location A thin s ...

in Kyoto Prefecture, and Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima Prefecture. In 1915, the New Three Views of Japan were selected with a national election by the . In 2003, the Three Major Night Views of Japan were selected by the . File:Matsushima miyagi z.JPG, Pine-clad islands of Matsushima File:Amanohashidate view from Mt Moju02s3s4592.jpg, Sandbar of

File:20131012_07_Miyajima_-_Torii_(10491662566).jpg, at Itsukushima Shrine

National symbols

The

Japanese archipelago The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East Chin ...

is located to the east of the Asian continent. Japan is regarded as the most eastern Asian country, because east of Japan is the vast

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

Minamitorishima , also known as Marcus Island, is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some southeast of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight line ...

is Japan's easternmost island. Thus Japan is the land where the sun rises before the Asian continent. The kanji that make up the name of Japan literally mean . It is pronounced as or in Japanese, and is often referred to by the epithet "Land of the Rising Sun". The is the national flag of Japan. It symbolizes the rising sun and corresponds with the name of Japan. The earliest accounts of the rising sun flag is in the 7th century CE. In 607, an official correspondence that began with "from the Emperor of the rising sun" was sent to Chinese Emperor Yang of Sui. Thus the central importance of the sun in Japanese culture is represented in the national flag and other cultural goods. Similarly, the Japan Self-Defense Forces have flags that symbolize the sun. The Sun also plays an important role in Japanese mythology and religion as the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

is said to be the direct descendant of the Sun goddess Amaterasu, the personification of Japan. She is seen as the goddess of the Sun and the universe in Shinto religion. The emperor is "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people." is the national founder of Japan. The national animals are the

green pheasant The green pheasant (''Phasianus versicolor''), also known as the Japanese green pheasant, is an omnivorous bird native to the Japanese archipelago, to which it is endemic. Some taxonomic authorities consider it a subspecies of the common pheas ...

koi or more specifically , are colored varieties of the Amur carp ('' Cyprinus rubrofuscus'') that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens. Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of ''C. rubrofuscus'' ke ...

fish and the

great purple emperor ''Sasakia charonda'', the Japanese emperor or great purple emperor, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is native to Japan (from Hokkaidō to Kyūshū), the Korean Peninsula, China, northern Taiwan and northern Vietnam. Its wi ...

butterfly. The

Imperial Seal of Japan The Imperial Seal of Japan or National Seal of Japan, also called the , or , is one of the national seals and a crest ('' mon'') used by the Emperor of Japan and members of the Imperial Family. It is a contrast to the Paulownia Seal used by the ...

is one of the

national seals National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

and a crest () used by the Emperor of Japan and members of the

Imperial Family A royal family is the immediate family of King, kings/Queen regnant, queens, Emir, emirs/emiras, Sultan, sultans/Sultana (title), sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the ...

. The cherry blossom (Prunus serrulata) &

chrysanthemum morifolium Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center o ...

are de facto national flowers of Japan. Japan's de facto national dish is sushi,

Japanese curry is commonly served in three main forms: , curry udon (curry over thick noodles), and (a curry-filled pastry). It is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. The very common "curry rice" is most often referred to simply as . Along with the sau ...

and

ramen is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese noodle di ...

. The de facto national liquor is .RatesToGo: ''Best National Drinks Part I''
is the national mountain of Japan. It is one of Japan's along with

Mount Tate , commonly referred to as Tateyama, is a mountain located in the southeastern area of Toyama Prefecture, Japan. It is one of the tallest mountains in the Hida Mountains at . It is one of Japan's along with Mount Fuji and Mount Haku. Tateyama c ...

and

Mount Haku , or Mount Hakusan (commonly referred to as simply Hakusan), is a dormant stratovolcano in Japan. It is located on the borders of Gifu and Ishikawa, on the island of Honshu. Mount Haku is thought to have first been active 300,000 to 400,000 yea ...

. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's

Historic Sites History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

.
The summit is considered a sacred place since ancient times. As a national symbol of the country, Mount Fuji has been depicted in various art and media such as painting, woodblock prints (such as the '' Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji''), poetry, music, theater, film, manga, anime and pottery.

Gallery

File:Hasegawa Tohaku - Pine Trees (Shōrin-zu byōbu) - left hand screen.jpg, Left panel of the '' Shōrin-zu byōbu'', by Hasegawa Tohaku, , six-fold screen, ink on paper,

National Treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the funda ...

File:Wind God and Thunder God Screens by Tawaraya Sotatsu hi-res.png, by

Tawaraya Sōtatsu was a Japanese furniture designer and painter of the Rinpa school. Sōtatsu is best known for his decorations of calligraphic works by his partner Hon'ami Kōetsu (1558–1637), and his spectacular and highly influential ''byōbu'' folding s ...

, with

Raijin , also known as , , , and Kamowakeikazuchi-no-kami is a god of lightning, thunder and storms in Japanese mythology and the Shinto religion. He is typically depicted with fierce and aggressive facial expressions, standing atop a cloud, beatin ...

shown on the left and

Fūjin or is the Japanese god of the wind and one of the eldest Shinto gods. He is portrayed as a terrifying wizardly demon, resembling a red-headed green-skinned humanoid wearing a leopard skin, carrying a large bag of winds on his shoulders. In Ja ...

right, 17th century File:壽字吉祥文蒔絵印籠 - Inrō with the Characters for Longevity and Good Fortune and the “Seven Lucky Treasures” on Checkerboard Ground.jpg, in lacquerware File:Hexagonal Jar, Imari ware, Kakiemon type, Edo period, 17th century, flowering plant and phoenix design in overglaze enamel - Tokyo National Museum - DSC05329 (retouched).jpg, ''

Kakiemon is a style of Japanese porcelain, with overglaze decoration called "enameled" ceramics. It was originally produced at the factories around Arita, in Japan's Hizen province (today, Saga Prefecture) from the Edo period's mid-17th century onwards ...

Imari ware is a Western term for a brightly-coloured style of Japanese export porcelain made in the area of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū. They were exported to Europe in large quantities, especially between the second half ...

hexagonal jar, flowering plant and phoenix design in overglaze enamel. File:Kamidana with kagamimochi offering by shig2006 in Hitachinaka.jpg, (home shrine) with and File:Daruma dolls.jpg, of various sizes File:Hamaya.jpg, at

Ikuta Shrine is a Shinto shrine in the Chūō Ward of Kobe, Japan, and is possibly among the oldest shrines in the country. History According to '' Nihon Shoki'', it was founded by the Empress Jingū at the beginning of the 3rd century AD to enshrine the '' ...

File:Fan of Japanese Cypress ITUKUSHIMA shrine.JPG, Japanese foldable fan of late Heian period (12th century) File:Noh5.jpg, Traditional Japanese ceremony at Itsukushima Shrine File:Jissoin-Temple-Stone-Garden.JPG, Jissō-in rock garden in Iwakura (Kyoto), reformed in 2013. File:Hitomi (19522048512).jpg,

Lolita fashion is a subculture from Japan that is highly influenced by Victorian fashion, Victorian clothing and styles from the Rococo period. A very distinctive property of Lolita fashion is the aesthetic of Kawaii, cuteness. This clothing subculture can ...

is a fashion subculture that is highly influenced by Victorian and Edwardian from the Rococo period.

References

*
Review

* * * * * Varley, Paul. Japanese Culture. 4th Edition. Honolulu. 2000. *

Notes

External links

Japanese-City.com
Japanese Cultural Events by Japanese Organizations throughout America.

In English, at BeyondCalligraphy.com
Japan Society – New York City
North America's single major producer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience.

Traditional Culture – The Imperial Household Agency
*
Working with the Japanese
" ''

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...