Yoshiaki Kita

Yoshiaki Kita was born in Ishikawa prefecture in Japan in 1956. In 1979 he moved to France. Like many artists of post-war Japan, Yoshiaki Kita uses Western printmaking techniques. Silkscreen is among the favorite ones of the post-war generation of Japanese artists. And like many of the Japanese artists born in the middle of the 20th century, he combines in his art works Western and Japanese elements.

Shigera Tanaguchi

Shigera Tanaguchi was born three years after the end of the great Pacific war. He is from a generation of modern Japanese artists who combine old an new, oriental and western art elements. The art works by Shigera Tanaguchi have received worldwide recognition. They are to be found in such important museums like the Moma (Museum of Modern Art) in New York, the Cincinnati Museum of Modern Art or the Osaka Museum of International Art.

Hiroto Norikane

Mr. Hiroto Norikane was born in 1949 in Hiroshima prefecture. He graduated from Sokei Academy of Fine Arts, and had studied under Yoshida Hodaka and Kato Kiyomi. The artist works in a mixed media technique of etching and mezzotint. The motifs chosen for his art prints are taken from rural Japan and from the Japanese tradition.

Tattoo Art in Modern Japan

Although some younger people may consider tattooing as trendy, the majority of the Japanese population still considers it as something connected to the underworld of mafia gangsters or a bad low class habit at the best. Younger people who consider tattoos as iki - a minority among Japanese youth - tend to use partial tattoos in Western style on their upper arms, where it is not directly visible.

The Meiji Restoration until Postwar Japan

In its strive to adopt Western civilizations, the Imperial Meiji government banned tattooing as something considered a barbaric relict of the past. The funny thing was that the Japanese irezumi artists now got new clients - the sailors from the foreign ships anchoring in Japanese harbors. Thus Japanese tattoo art was spread to the West.

During the first half of the twentieth century, horimono remained a forbidden art form until 1948, when the prohibition was officially lifted. Some say that this step had become necessary to legalize the demand by soldiers of the American occupation forces for horimono and irezumi.

Tattoos in the Edo Period

During the Edo period - 1603-1868 - Japanese tattoo art became a part of ukiyo-e - the floating world culture. Prostitutes - yujos - of the pleasure quarters used tattoos to increase their attractiveness for customers. Body tattoos were used by laborers and firemen.

From 1720 on, the tattooing of criminals became an official punishment and replaced the amputation of the nose and the ears. The criminal received a ring tattoo around the arm for each offense or a character tattoo on his forehead. Tattooing criminals was continued until 1870, when it was abolished by the new Meiji government of the Japanese Emperor.

This visible punishment created a new class of outcasts that had no place in society and nowhere to go. Many of these outlaws were ronin - masterless samurai warriors. They had no alternatives than organizing in gangs. These men formed the roots of yakuza - the organized criminals in Japan in the twentieth century.

Japanese Tattoo Art

Japanese tattoo art has several names - irezumi or horimono in the Japanese language. Irezumi is the word for the traditional visible tattoo that covers large parts of the body like the back. Japanese tattoo art has a very long history.

Since the influence of Confucianism and Buddhism on the Japanese culture, tattoo art has a negative connotation for the majority of the Japanese people. In the eyes of an average Japanese a tattoo is considered a mark of a yakuza - a member of the Japanese mafia - or a macho symbol of members of the lower classes.

Early History of Japanese Tattoo Art

Archaeologists believe that the early settlers of Japan, the Ainu people, used facial tattoos. Chinese documents report about the Wa people - the Chinese name for their Japanese neighbors - and their habits of diving into water for fish and shells and decorating the whole body with tattoos. These reports are about 1700 years old.

For the higher developed Chinese culture, tattooing was a barbaric act. When Buddhism was brought from China to Japan and with it a strong influence of the Chinese culture, tattooing got negative connotations. Criminals were marked with tattoos to punish and identify them in society.

Museum Quality Masterpiece of 18th C Buddhist Sculpture

Museum Quality Early 18th Century Edo Period (circa 1700) Gilded Japanese Sculpture of Amida Nyorai Buddha. Seated cross-legged in the lotus posture, hands joined in the mudra of contemplation, eyes all but closed in meditation, we are gazing upon the sculptor's vision of Amida enthroned in paradise. The elaborately carved lotus upon which he sits is itself a symbol of the attributes of the Amida Buddha: gentleness, openness, and purity. This is a large, rare and exquisite example, fabulously carved in every aspect, from the Mandala, the Lotus, and the multiple stands, to the Buddha himself, all sumptuously lacquered in beautiful gold. The Buddha's hair is arranged in snail-like curls, and a sacred jewel adorns his forehead. The robes are enhanced with gorgeous black lacquered designs. It is, in our opinion and extensive experience, among the finest Buddhist art we have ever seen offered for sale. It is imbued with all of the gentle idealism one associates with Japanese Buddhist sculpture. We are proud to offer this masterwork. 32.5 inches (82.5cm) tall x 21 inches (53.5cm) wide. From a widely renowned and published collection that has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum and Japan Society. Detail....

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Fine 18th Cty. Silver Leaf Japanese Screen of a Phoenix

Early 18th Century Japanese Two Panel Screen Painting featuring a spectacular Phoenix. Exquisitely painted with silver leaf on paper. Original brocade borders. Screens this early are very rare, and screens of these proportions are rarely seen. 28 inches (71 cm)w x 24 inches 61 cm)h. Good Condition. From a prominent and widely exhibited collection. Details....

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Tim Mathers and Marilee Hall Collaboration Piece

Adorning the top of Tim Mathers' imaginative vessel is an extraordinary sculpture by the renowned Marilee Hall. A striking and unforgettable collaboration from 1984 between two great ceramic artists. An early piece like this is especially valuable, as Mathers is now the head of the Ceramic Department at Indiana University, and is no longer producing any work. This piece has had a single owner since it was created over 20 years ago. Height: 10 inches (25.5 cm), Circumference: 27 inches (68.5 cm). Details....

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The Art of Japanese Craft

1875 to the Present by Felice Fischer

From Japan’s first forays onto the international stage of world’s fairs in the late 19th century to the dynamic creativity of the 1920 and 1930s, from the heady post–World War II period to the present day, Japanese crafts have exhibited a rich diversity of media and techniques. One of the first illustrated surveys in English of modern-era Japanese crafts––including ceramics, lacquerware, metalcraft, and wood––this elegant book, with 70 color illustrations, is an invaluable guide for the collector and scholar.

Focusing on an important collection of Japanese crafts destined for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the text discusses the artists and ideas that shaped and defined the aesthetic of 20th-century Japan, noting that this nation—which so deeply appreciates and fosters its crafts traditions—hails its artists as “living national treasures.” The book also includes artists’ biographies and reproductions of their signatures and marks.

Felice Fischer is The Luther W. Brady Curator of Japanese Art and Curator of East Asian Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She is the author of Ike Taiga and Tokuyama Gyokuran (Yale).

Japanese Dragon Tattoo Picture

Tattoo Design Details:
3 sessions . hell lot of pain soon to be finished...but i think it will turn out nice- tattoo Mini denmark

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The Japanese Art of Sex: How to Tease, Seduce, and Pleasure the Samurai in Your Bedroom

The Japanese Art of Sex: How to Tease, Seduce, and Pleasure the Samurai in Your Bedroom by Jina Bacarr, Yelena Zhavoronkova (Illustrator)

Synopsis

Attention to detail, small gestures with profound meaning, brilliantly intuitive . . . these are the hallmarks of Japanese art, and they apply equally to the Japanese art of sex. Here for the first time is a practical guide that shows you how to use the ancient and modern Japanese sexual practices of court ladies, courtesans, and geisha to spark romance and deliver an erotic "floating world" of pleasure to you and your partner.

Japanese sex is not about the orgasm. In Japan, honest and healthy sex is at one with a love of nature and purity. But it is often the woman who knows more and cares more about extending passion into the realm of spirituality, using all of the senses. In The Japanese Art of Sex you'll practice aromatherapy, bathing and erotic meditation for calming; explore the art of conversation to stimulate the mind and expose the heart, roleplay to fulfill your fantasies; and, finally, use your fingers and tongue to tease and caress before choosing a position to make love.

Chapters with titles like "The Nine Points of Beauty," "Iki: The Art of Cool," and "Bathhouse Games and Sexy Cuisine" lead you step by step through over a thousand years of Japanese explorations into sex and love. While explicit, the discussions are tasteful and resolutely nonexploitive.

For like-minded modern Western women, eager to explore new ways of lovemaking and pleasure-giving, this book will be a welcome respite from all the other manuals that emphasize technique over the art of sex.

Jina Bacarr has written business books and magazine -articles, and she has coauthored a novel about Japan. She was previously the Japan-based consultant on KCBS-TV and MSNBC, andcurrently has her own weekly radio show, "On the Wild Side: The Spicier Side of Books." She lives in Southern California.

Biography

Jina Bacarr has written business books, magazine articles, and co-authored a novel about Japan. She was the Japanese consultant on KCB-TV, MSNBC, and has her own weekly radio show "On the Wild Side," the spicier side of books. She has worked as a companion girl, appeared in Japanese commercials, and written animation scripts for a Japanese movie studio.

The Queen of the Night

The Queen of the Night by : Kazuya Akimoto

"The Queen of the Night" : New, contemporary Japonisme, Japanese pop art, anime, manga style, literature, fairy tale, fable theme, surrealism woman portrait painting, black and white, monotone, pseudo-relief, 3d, decorative, ornamental, odd, strange, human, female figure, dark, night, raw art, symbolism, acrylic painting #7315, 2008 | Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum

The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art

Description
The museum was founded in the year 1959, at the joint initiative of Felix Tikotin, a known collector of Japanese art who contributed his private collection, and the late Abba Chushi. The museum houses about 6,000 exhibits which include paintings, reprints, sketches, textiles, ancient ornamented books, ceramics, miniature statuettes etc. The exhibition hall is constructed in the spirit of the Japanese architecture. The museum’s library houses about 2,500 books and scientific publications on the subject of Japan and its culture. The place hosts activities on the subject of Japanese culture such as lectures, films, courses on Japanese flower schemes, Zen meditation and the study of the Japanese language.

Modern Art (Japanese Magic Show)

J-Art: Japanese Pop Art

J-Art: Japanese Pop Art by : Daniel Kretschmer

What is Pop art? Pop art as a movement started in the 1950s in Britain and the U.S. which takes its art from popular mass culture as opposed to the elite art world. Today the term can still be used for art as an expression influenced from the mainstream culture of the masses.

While Andy Warhol was making his Soup Cans famous in the U.S., a new and exciting art in Japan was starting to form and take on a course of its own.

Tanaami and American Influences

One of the first and most important of the Japanese pop artists is Keiichi Tanaami. He was educated at the Musashino Art University, and would take a designer job after graduation. It wasn't long before he left the company he worked for due to his busy schedule with outside activities. These creative activities included experimentations with animation, lithograph, illustration, and editorial design.

By the late 60s, Tanaami traveled to the United States where he had an influential meeting with Andy Warhol in his legendary Factory in New York. He was very happy to have met Andy while he was doing his silkscreens, and much of his work was inspired by Andy's style. Later, after moving to San Fransisco, the Japanese artist's work became very colorful and psychedelic. He even designed a cover for Jefferson Airplane.

Much of Tanaami's work comes from dreams and memories. He remembers as a child squeezing goldfish that were about to die, until their guts came out. You can see this in some of his goldfish sculptures. Gruesome and interesting stuff.

Manga and Anime

Perhaps the best known contemporary Japanese artist today is Takashi Murakami. He is attributed with the modern art style known as "superflat," for a blending of traditional art with newer concepts deriving, in part, from manga and anime. These artworks are known for their flat planes of colorful images.

While Andy Warhol in the 1960s was turning consumer products into art, Murakami is now turning art into consumer products. He says he knows how much the Japanese people love art, but very few can afford the upper class art. So he creates affordable art anybody can afford. His art comes in the form of toys, paintings, sculptures, dolls, and mannequins, T-shirts, videos, and any other type of product readily available for consumers. He also designed a Louis Vuitton handbag.

His art is often colorful and imaginative, such as the painting entitled "727." Some of his art is daring, such as his "My Lonesome Cowboy." The "Cowboy" shows an obvious reference to American culture with the lasso made from the, uh, fluids.

Graffiti and Childlike Figures

Like Murakami, Japanese artist Yoshimoto Nara derives his style from manga and anime. His work is usually done in graffiti-type painting and the characters are often cute and childlike, but which also possess dark characteristics. These characters come from a meshing of childhood memories and an input of contemporary style. What you get is a unique consumer art product.

There's an excellent British miniseries called Japanorama, which chronicles the host's seeking of Japanese culture in general. One of the episodes is all about J-Art and has the above artists and much more. So check it out, and don't forget to watch it with a nice hot bowl of Ramen.

New exhibition in Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art in Haifa

Georges Weil was the first western artist to be invited to join the Japanese Netsuke Chokokukai (The Japanese Netsuke Carvers Association), and the first foreign artist to participate in a group exhibition by its members. In 1989 George Weil emigrated to Israel. For almost twenty years he did not make any netsuke, so that all the netsuke on display have been created over the last two years especially for this exhibition. Essentially, Weil’s netsuke fall into two categories. One is the traditional, very detailed Japanese type, but fashioned in his own unique style. His other motifs are semiabstractions, compositions with clean, elegant lines.