8.3 Japan

Temples & Zen

Tōdai-ji (Nara) houses a giant bronze Buddha. Zen aesthetics prize simplicity and emptiness — the raked-gravel dry garden of Ryōan-ji invites meditation.

The floating world

Ukiyo-e ('pictures of the floating world') are woodblock prints of Edo-period pleasures. Hokusai's 'Under the Great Wave off Kanagawa' is the most famous, with its towering wave and distant Mt. Fuji.

Influence abroad

Ukiyo-e prints, cheap and portable, reached Europe and strongly influenced Impressionists and Post-Impressionists — an example of cross-cultural exchange.

Key terms

Tōdai-ji

Nara temple with a giant bronze Buddha

Ryōan-ji

Zen dry garden of raked gravel

Ukiyo-e

'floating world' woodblock prints

'Great Wave' (Hokusai)

the most famous ukiyo-e print

Japonisme

ukiyo-e's influence on European Impressionism

Try an AP-style question

Hokusai's The Great Wave is a…

1. woodblock print
2. hanging scroll painting
3. bronze sculpture
4. ceramic plate