Introduction The traditional formats of Japanese paintings—scrolls, albums, fans, folding screens and movable panels—were designed to encourage an intimate and adaptable relationship between the viewer and the work of art. Specific paintings were often meant to be contemplated during a particular season or occasion. Many Japanese paintings are made with a traditional Japanese bird's-eye perspective that differs from Western-style linear perspective. Japanese paintings are often meant to be enjoyed in the settings they were created for. In this respect they much better enjoyed in the religious buildings and dwellings they were placed than in museums.

HISTORY OF JAPANESE ART Jomon art: The first settlers of Japan, the Jomon people (c 11000?–c 300 BC), named for the cord markings that decorated the surfaces of their clay vessels, were nomadic hunter-gatherers who later practiced organized farming and built cities with population of hundreds if not thousands. Yayoi art: The next wave of immigrants was the Yayoi people, named for the district in Tokyo where remnants of their settlements first were found. These people, arriving in Japan about 350 BC, brought their knowledge of wetland rice cultivation, the manufacture of copper weapons and bronze bells (dotaku), and wheel-thrown, kiln-fired ceramics. Kofun art: The third stage in Japanese prehistory, the Kofun, or Tumulus, period (c AD 250–552), represents a modification of Yayoi culture, attributable either to internal development or external force. Asuka and Nara art: During the Asuka and Nara periods, so named because the seat of Japanese government was located in the Asuka Valley from 552 to 710 and in the city of Nara until 784, the first significant invasion by Asian continental culture took place in Japan. Heian art: Early Heian art: In reaction to the growing wealth and power of organized Buddhism in Nara, the priest Kukai (best known by his posthumous title Kobo Daishi, 774-835) journeyed to China to study Shingon, a form of Vajrayana Buddhism, which he introduced into Japan in 806. Kamakura art: Calligraphy and painting: The Kegon Engi Emaki, the illustrated history of the founding of the Kegon sect, is an excellent example of the popularizing trend in Kamakura painting. Muromachi art: Painting: Because of secular ventures and trading missions to China organized by Zen temples, many Chinese paintings and objects of art were imported into Japan and profoundly influenced Japanese artists working for Zen temples and the shogunate.