Art and Culture in the Edo Period

27.2.3: Art and Culture in the Edo Period

The Edo period witnessed the energetic growth of intellectual and artistic trends, including the development of sciences shaped by both Western and national influences, the emergence of new schools of art, and the rise of new literary genres fueled by the rising literacy rate among urban populations.

Learning Objective

Identify some artistic trends during the Edo Period

Key Points

  • During the Edo period, the Japanese studied Western sciences and techniques (called rangaku, “Dutch studies”) through the information and books received from Dutch traders in Dejima. The main areas of study included geography, medicine, natural sciences, astronomy, art, languages, physical sciences, and mechanical sciences.
  • The flourishing of neo-Confucianism was the major intellectual development of the Tokugawa period. Although this system of thought was not new during the Edo period, its major tenets became more popular, including a secular view of man and society, ethical humanism, rationalism, and historical perspective of neo-Confucian doctrine.
  • By the mid-17th century, neo-Confucianism was Japan’s dominant legal philosophy and contributed directly to the development of the kokugaku. This school of Japanese philology and philosophy worked to refocus Japanese scholarship away from the then-dominant study of Chinese, Confucian, and Buddhist texts in favor of research into the early Japanese classics. It held that the Japanese national character would reveal its splendor once the foreign (Chinese) influences were removed.
  • Advanced studies and growing applications of neo-Confucianism contributed to the transition of the social and political order from feudal norms to class- and large-group-oriented practices. The rule of the people or Confucian man was gradually replaced by the rule of law. New laws were developed and new administrative devices were instituted.
  • For the first time, urban populations had the means and leisure time to support a new mass culture. Their search for enjoyment became known as ukiyo (the floating world), an ideal world of fashion, popular entertainment, and the discovery of aesthetic qualities in objects and actions of everyday life. Yoshiwara was a famous district of such enjoyment in Edo. Prostitution based on the indentured servitude of girls and young women became the critical component of the district’s identity.
  • Music, popular stories, kabuki and bunraku (puppet theater), poetry, literature, and art all flourished during the Edo period. A new style of painting and printmaking known as ukiyo-e emerged in fine arts. In literature, many genres debuted, helped by a rising literacy rate among the growing population of townspeople and the development of lending libraries.

Key Terms

ukiyo-e
A genre of art flourished in Japan from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties, kabuki actors, and sumo wrestlers, scenes from history and folk tales, travel scenes and landscapes, flora and fauna, and erotica. The term translates as “picture[s] of the floating world.”
Chōnindō
A distinct culture that arose in cities such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo during the Edo period of Japanese history. It encouraged aspiration to bushido (samurai code of conduct) qualities—diligence, honesty, honor, loyalty, and frugality—while blending Shinto, Neo-Confucian, and Buddhist beliefs. Study of mathematics, astronomy, cartography, engineering, and medicine were also encouraged. Emphasis was placed on quality of workmanship, especially in the arts.
Shinto
A Japanese ethnic religion that focuses on ritual practices to be carried out diligently and establishing a connection between present-day Japan and its ancient past. Its practices were first recorded and codified in the written historical records of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in the 8th century.
Neo-Confucianism
A moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism that became prominent in Japan during the Edo period. It was an attempt to create a more rationalist and secular form of Confucianism by rejecting superstitious and mystical elements of Taoism and Buddhism that had influenced Confucianism.
Yoshiwara
A famous pleasure and red-light district in Edo, present-day Tōkyō. In the early 17th century, there was widespread male and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated districts to prevent the nouveau riche (townsmen) from engaging in political intrigue.
Kokugaku
An academic school of Japanese philology and philosophy that originated during the Tokugawa period. Its scholars worked to refocus Japanese scholarship away from the then-dominant study of Chinese, Confucian, and Buddhist texts in favor of research into the early Japanese classics.

 

Intellectual Trends

During the Edo period, the Japanese studied Western sciences and techniques (called rangaku, “Dutch studies”) through the information and books received from Dutch traders in Dejima. The main areas of study included geography, medicine, natural sciences, astronomy, art, languages, physical sciences such as the study of electrical phenomena, and mechanical sciences as exemplified by the development of Japanese clockwatches, or wadokei, inspired by Western techniques.

The flourishing of neo-Confucianism was the major intellectual development of the Tokugawa period. Confucian studies had long been kept active in Japan by Buddhist clerics, but during the Tokugawa period, Confucianism emerged from Buddhist religious control. Neo-Confucianism was an attempt to create a more rationalist and secular form of Confucianism by rejecting superstitious and mystical elements of Taoism and Buddhism that earlier influenced Confucianism. Although the neo-Confucianists were critical of Taoism and Buddhism, the new philosophy borrowed terms and concepts from both. However, unlike the Buddhists and Taoists, who saw metaphysics as a catalyst for spiritual development, religious enlightenment, and immortality, the Neo-Confucianists used metaphysics as a guide for developing a rationalist ethical philosophy. Although this system of thought was not new during the Edo period, its major tenets,  including a secular view of man and society, ethical humanism, rationalism, and historical perspective of neo-Confucian doctrine, grew in popularity.

By the mid-17th century, Neo-Confucianism was Japan’s dominant legal philosophy and contributed directly to the development of the kokugaku, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy that originated during the Tokugawa period. Kokugaku scholars worked to refocus Japanese scholarship away from the then-dominant study of Chinese, Confucian, and Buddhist texts in favor of research into the early Japanese classics. The Kokugaku school held that the Japanese national character was naturally pure and would reveal its splendor once the foreign (Chinese) influences were removed. The “Chinese heart” was different from the “true heart” or “Japanese heart.” This true Japanese spirit needed to be revealed by removing a thousand years of Chinese learning. Kokugaku contributed to the emperor-centered nationalism of modern Japan and the revival of Shinto as a national creed in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some purists in the kokugaku movement, such as Motoori Norinaga, even criticized the Confucian and Buddhist influences—in effect, foreign influences—for contaminating Japan’s ancient ways.

Members of the samurai class adhered to their ways of life (a code of conduct known as bushido) with a renewed interest in Japanese history and in cultivation of the practices of Confucian scholar-administrators. Another special way of life—chōnindō—also emerged. Chōnindō (“the way of the townspeople”) was a distinct culture that arose in cities such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo. It encouraged aspiration to bushido qualities—diligence, honesty, honor, loyalty, and frugality—while blending Shinto, Neo-Confucian, and Buddhist beliefs. Study of mathematics, astronomy, cartography, engineering, and medicine were also encouraged. Emphasis was placed on quality of workmanship, especially in the arts.

 

Cultural Trends and Japanese Social Order

Advanced studies and growing applications of neo-Confucianism contributed to the transition of the social and political order from feudal norms to class- and large-group-oriented practices. The rule of the people or Confucian man was gradually replaced by the rule of law. New laws were developed and new administrative devices were instituted. A new theory of government and a new vision of society emerged to justify more comprehensive governance by the shogunate. Each person had a distinct place in society and was expected to work to fulfill his or her mission in life. The people were ruled with benevolence. Government was all-powerful but responsible and humane. Although the class system was influenced by neo-Confucianism, it was not identical to it. Whereas soldiers and clergy were at the bottom of the hierarchy in the Chinese model, in Japan, some members of these classes constituted the ruling elite.

For the first time, urban populations had the means and leisure time to support new mass culture. Their search for enjoyment became known as ukiyo (the floating world), an ideal world of fashion, popular entertainment, and the discovery of aesthetic qualities in objects and actions of everyday life. This increasing interest in pursuing recreational activities developed an array of new industries, many found in an area known as Yoshiwara. The region was better known for being the center of Edo’s developing sense of elegance and refinement. This center of pleasure and luxury became a destination for the elite and wealthy merchants who wished to flaunt their fortune. For many who inhabited and worked in this region, maintaining the illusion of grandeur was the only way of supporting their businesses.

Yoshiwara was home to many girls and women who provided services to lure guests into returning. These included dancing, singing, playing an instrument, gossiping, or providing companionship, which usually meant prostitution. Girls were often indentured to the brothels by their parents between the ages of seven and 12. Some would become an apprentice to a high-ranking courtesan. When the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. The young women often had a contract to the brothel for five to ten years, but massive debt sometimes kept them there for life. The alleged cost of living at Yoshiwara perpetuated the cycle of abuse as women were forced to pay the cost of rent, clothing, make-up, gifts, and even their work contract. One way a woman could get out of Yoshiwara was for a rich man to buy her contract from the brothel and keep her as his personal wife or concubine. Another was if she managed to be successful to buy her own freedom. This did not occur very often. Many women died of sexually transmitted diseases or from failed abortions before completing their contracts. A significant number served out their contracts and married a client, went into other employment (including other forms of prostitution), or returned to their family homes.

Prostitutes on display in Yoshiwara during the Meiji period (the period following the Edo period in the Japanese history), possibly by Kusakabe Kimbei.

The area was damaged by an extensive fire in 1913, then nearly wiped out by an earthquake in 1923. It remained in business, however, until prostitution was outlawed by the Japanese government in 1958 after World War II.

 

Arts and Literature

Music, popular stories, kabuki and bunraku (puppet theater), poetry, literature, and art all flourished during the Edo period.

Around 1661, painted hanging scrolls known as Portraits of Kanbun Beauties gained popularity. The paintings of the Kanbun era (1661–73), most of which are anonymous, marked the beginnings of a new style of painting and printmaking known as ukiyo-e. The paintings of Iwasa Matabei (1578–1650) are seen by some scholars as evidence that Matabei he was the genre’s founder. In response to the increasing demand for ukiyo-e works, Hishikawa Moronobu (1618–1694) produced the first ukiyo-e woodblock prints. By 1672, Moronobu was so successful that he began to sign his work—the first of the book illustrators to do so. He was a prolific illustrator who worked in a wide variety of genres and developed an influential style of portraying female beauties. Most significantly, he began to produce illustrations, not just for books, but as single-sheet images which could stand alone or be used as part of a series. The Hishikawa school attracted a large number of followers.

Suzuki Harunobu produced the first full-color nishiki-e prints in 1765, a form that has become synonymous with ukiyo-e. The genre peaked in technique towards the end of the century with the works of such artists as Kiyonaga and Utamaro. As the Edo period came to an end, a great diversity of topics proliferated: warriors, nature, folklore, and the landscapes of Hokusai and Hiroshige. The genre declined throughout the rest of the century in the face of modernization that saw ukiyo-e as both old-fashioned and laborious to produce compared to Western technologies. Ukiyo-e was a primary part of the wave of Japanism that swept Western art in the late 19th century.

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Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 1831 (from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji).

This  one of the best-known works of Japanese art represents ukiyo-e. Although it is often used in tsunami literature, there is no reason to suspect that Hokusai intended it to be interpreted in that way. The waves in this work are sometimes mistakenly referred to as tsunami but they are more accurately called okinami, great off-shore waves.

Due in large part to the rise of the working and middle classes in the new capital of Edo (modern Tokyo), forms of popular drama developed which would later evolve into kabuki. The jōruri and kabuki dramatist Chikamatsu Monzaemon became popular at the end of the 17th century and is known as Japan’s Shakespeare. Many genres of literature made their début during the Edo Period, helped by a rising literacy rate among the growing population of townspeople and the development of lending libraries. Although there was a minor Western influence trickling into the country from the Dutch settlement at Nagasaki, it was the importation of Chinese vernacular fiction that proved the greatest outside influence on the development of early modern Japanese fiction. Ihara Saikaku is credited for the birth of modern Japanese novel, mixing vernacular dialogue into his humorous and cautionary tales of the pleasure quarters. Jippensha Ikku wrote Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige, a mix of travelogue and comedy. Tsuga Teisho, Takebe Ayatari, and Okajima Kanzan were instrumental in developing the yomihon, historical romances almost entirely in prose, influenced by Chinese vernacular. Other genres included horror, crime stories, morality stories, comedy, and pornography—often accompanied by colorful woodcut prints.

During the Tokugawa period, as in earlier periods, scholarly work continued to be published in Chinese, considered the language of the learned much as Latin was in Europe.

Attributions