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- Introduction

Introduction

More than two thousand years ago, the emperor wanted to know more about his country. It was, of course, impossible to visit all the corners yourself, so dozens of educated people were sent from the capital to all provinces in order to study local conditions and attractions, and then depict them in miniature. But these were not supposed to be drawings, but visual models showing mountains, rivers, houses, livestock and even people on a reduced scale. At his palace, the emperor ordered the preparation of a wide marble platform, reminiscent of a map of the country in its outline. It was on this huge stand that the brought landscapes of the provinces were to be displayed. The emperor's order was carried out exactly, and from then on he made it a habit to walk around the site every morning, looking at the beauties of his country. The layouts were called “penzhin”. They were updated periodically, making seasonal adjustments.

As often happens, the habits of their superiors were quickly adopted by their subordinates. The creation of man-made landscapes became fashionable, and after some time their own penzhins appeared in the houses of officials, scientists, and wealthy merchants. The practice of creating miniature landscapes depicting a small homeland or a favorite mountain or sea view has survived to this day. This art has come a long way from ancient Penzhins to modern installations. As it developed, it diversified.

Stone and sand compositions began to include living nature - specially reduced trees and bushes, moss, grass. Entire schools of followers of this art were formed, leaning towards one direction or another - bonseki, suiseki, saikei, bonkei, bonsai.

Sansuiga (Japanese paintings of mountains and waters), landscape painting, one of the three main genres of painting in the Far East (China, Korea and Japan), along with jinbutsuga (portrait and genre painting) and katega (paintings of flowers and birds). By the 5th century, theoretical artists formulated the main objectives of landscape painting. The landscape was conceived as an expression of philosophical principles, while simultaneously interpreting the beauty of the surrounding nature. However, only artists of the Song Dynasty embodied these goals in their works. The main types of composition were established and techniques for depicting stones and rocks, trees and mountain peaks were developed.

Along with Zen Buddhism, the Chinese culture of the Song and Yuan dynasties came to Japan, including Chinese monochrome ink painting, which was so valued by Zen monks. Early landscape painters, such as Shubun of Sekokuji Monastery, used motifs borrowed from Chinese monastic painters and court academy painters to depict idealized, lyrical landscapes. The follower of Shubun and his student Sesshu moved to a more dramatic style in landscape painting. The 16th-century need for larger-scale wall paintings led to a transformation of landscape painting unique to Japan. Artists painted walls and screens in castles and monasteries, founding the first professional painting schools in Japan.

A clear achievement in this field was the work of Kano Motonobu. In the 18th century, the traditions of the Chinese “southern school” were revived in landscape painting by artists of the “nanga” school - Ike no Taiga and Yesa Buson. At the same time, the interest in painting from life among such Japanese artists as Tani Bunte, Maruyama Oke and Hokusai allowed them to move away from the conceptual landscape of sansuiga to the realistic depiction of scenic views, which were called “fukeiga”.

Japanese wildlife artists appeared in ancient Japan in the early 14th century. The popular Chinese genre of "mountain-water" was called "sansuiga". Naturally, the Japanese learned the ability to paint mountain landscapes and animals so skillfully from their Chinese neighbors. Monk artists Kitsuzan Mingo (1352-1431) and Taiko Josetsu were among the first to depict wildlife. It was thanks to these pioneers that the great Sesshu (1420-1506) appeared, as well as Eitoku and Hasegawa Tohaku (1539-1610). One of the latter’s masterpieces, “Pine Forest,” depicting ancient pine trees through fog, is kept in the Tokyo National Museum. Since ancient times, the tradition of depicting wildlife in Japanese landscape painting has been closely connected with poetry, landscape lyricism and is embodied in the principle of haiga (poeticized painting), used in painting and poetry on equal terms. It was combined with such Japanese folk customs as “tskimi” - admiring the full moon in autumn, “yukimi” - admiring the first snow in winter, “sakuramankai” - admiring cherry blossoms - sakura in early spring.

The depiction of wild nature in ancient Japan was promoted by the “Kano school”, which appeared in the 15th century. Its most prominent landscape painters were the 17th century artists - the brothers Kano Tanyu and Kano Yasunobu (one of the latter’s most famous works is “Pheasant on the Willow”). It should also be noted that Toichi Sekkoku - “Winter Landscape. In Search of the Wild Plum" (1772) and "Mountains in Winter". The painting “Autumn Landscape” by Watanabe Kazaea (1793-1844) depicts a small figure of the artist among sad autumn mountains. The work of Mori Tetsuuzai, “Monkeys in Autumn” (1775), which is kept in the State Museum of Oriental Arts in Moscow, is also dedicated to autumn. An unsurpassed masterpiece is the painting by Kano Toshun - “Monkeys Catching the Reflections of the Moon in the Water.” Ogata Korin's work "Red and White Plum Flowers" is considered a world masterpiece. However, unlike the Chinese artists, their Japanese colleagues had one common favorite theme. This is the symbol of Japan, wild Mount Fuji.

More than 1,300 temples are now dedicated to the goddess of Mount Fuji throughout Japan. A national park has been created in the Fuji area. The earliest known Japanese drawing of Mount Fuji dates back to 1069, although Japanese artists undoubtedly began painting it much earlier.

It became especially popular in the 19th century, when it gained fame in the Western world.

You need to see the Japanese islands with your own eyes to understand why the people inhabiting them consider nature to be the measure of their ideas about beauty. Japan is a country of green mountains and sea bays; a country of most picturesque panoramas. In contrast to the bright colors of the Mediterranean, which lies at approximately the same latitudes, the landscapes of Japan are composed of soft tones, muted by the humidity of the air. This restrained palette can only be temporarily disrupted by some seasonal colors. For example, spring blooming azaleas or flaming maple leaves in autumn.

Here you sometimes think that not only artists, but also nature itself - pine trees on coastal cliffs, mirror mosaics of rice fields, gloomy volcanic lakes - follow the generally accepted canons of beauty in this country.

The purpose of the course work is to consider the model of perception of wild nature in Japanese culture based on the material of landscape painting, poetry and garden art.

Coursework objectives:

Study the work of Japanese landscape painters from different eras;

Expand the theme of Japanese wildlife in lyrical work;

Identify the main directions in the art of “contemplation” (“admiring”).

Chapter 1 Japanese Wildlife Artists

1.1 The work of Katsushika Hokusai

The founder of the wildlife genre in Japanese prints, artist Katsushika Hokusai, depicted the mountain in a variety of black-and-white and color prints in 1831-1835, creating his famous album “One Hundred Views of Fuji” some time later. It was one of the most outstanding wildlife art projects in the world. The author of the engravings himself considered this mountain sacred. Also known are the sets of his prints “Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji”, “Journey through the waterfalls of the country”, “A thousand views of the sea”, “Snow, moon, flowers”, “Flowers and birds”, “Picturesque places, extraordinary views”, glorifying the wild nature and its inhabitants.

One of the first to depict Fuji was the creator of the national Japanese landscape, Sesshu. But if Sesshu’s Fuji is mysterious and immeasurable and, hanging over the valley and a tiny village, embodies the incomprehensible essence of the universe and recreates the beauty of wild nature, then in Hokusai it is endowed with a slightly different content. The master was inspired by the view of the mountain during one of his travels. Fuji is most beautiful from the ocean side. Gentle spurs of mountains descend into the ocean, mountain rivers run down to it, and to the right of the road, on the horizon, Fuji rises, correlated with the endless expanse of the ocean. It seems especially grandiose, appearing in the valley and towering above the fields. The base of Fuji melts into thick stripes of fog, and it seems that the mountain smoothly takes off and, like a giant bird, soars over the country, protecting its peace and quiet. The heroine of ancient legends and tales, this mountain was revered first as the goddess of Fire and later as the abode of Shinto. It was considered the beginning of heaven and earth, the pride of the nation and the basis of national well-being. It was worshiped by Taoists, Buddhists, Shintoists, and the wild mountain gradually became the embodiment of the high aspirations of the people and the best qualities of the nation. This is exactly what Hokusai Painting of Japan tried to show in his works. / Ed. Yakovleva A.M. - M.: Education, 1987. - p.-54. .

Each print by Hokusai tells us something new about Fuji. We listen to the silence of the pine forest - "View of Fuji from Matsuyama", peer into the slightly trembling branches of the willow - "View of Fuji from the dam with willows", submit to the irresistible power of a rainy gray day, when its shapes lose their outline - "Fuji during rain." There are almost fantastic works - “The Birth of the Hohensen Peak on Fuji”, “Fuji as a Stand for the Sun”, “Fuji in the Form of a Snowy Hill”.

The master draws a mountain overturned into a lake - “The Flight of Wild Geese”, examines it through a web - “Fuji through a web”, or from afar - “View of Fuji from the river behind the Yatsugadake Mountains”. In all of Hokusai's prints, Fuji is depicted as a perfect mountain, an indestructible constant, as an element of eternal wild nature, as a reflection of its eternal beauty. In its silence and grandeur, Fuji reveals a certain sacredness of the laws of existence. His most outstanding images of Fuji are recognized as “Red Fuji”, “The Great Wave” (which became the national symbol of Japan) and “Mountain during a thunderstorm”. The full name of “Red Fuji” is “Victory Wind. Clear day." Imagine that against the backdrop of a sparkling blue expanse, a mountain is blazing with a red glow. The mountain is incomparable to anything. We look down and realize the vastness of the sky and understand that the greenery on its slope is not grass, not bushes, but a tall forest. Fuji seems to grow before our eyes, becoming as majestic as the world.

In contrast to “Red Fuji”, the engraving “Mountain during a thunderstorm” was made. Clouds crawled onto the mountain, it tensed and ruffled, the flash of lightning cut the darkness. However, the most famous is the third engraving of the master - “The Great Wave”. Mountain and water are necessary elements of any classical Far Eastern landscape. But while in old Chinese or Japanese landscapes water was present in the form of rain or waterfalls, Hokusai discovered the ocean for Japanese wildlife artists. The very idea of a grand ocean wave confronting a mountain was bold and unusual. “The sages love water because it is changeable. The merciful love the mountains,” said Confucius. The plot of the engraving, according to the Japanese art critic Noguchi, is “The violent activity of nature.” The wave “looms over Fuji like the paw of a crazy falcon. The sea resembles the dance of an eight-headed dragon.” The main idea of the picture is that people are not opposed to wild nature at all, they are barely distinguishable and are perceived almost as white foam of spray. As Noguchi writes: "The Big Wave" evokes a dual impression - ... the grandiose voice of the sea is contrasted with the silence surrounding the mountain."

In another outstanding series of works about wildlife - the album “A Journey to the Waterfalls of the Country”, published in 1829, Hokusai shows the unusual forms of waterfalls, the outlandishness of their outlines: streams of water then spread in thin streams along the rock - “Kietaki Kannon Waterfall near the Tokaido Road ”, then cuts into space like a sharp blade - “Ono Falls”, or looks like the gnarled roots of a mighty tree - “Kurifuri Falls on Mount Kurokami”.

Yoshitsune Falls is reminiscent of an ancient hero who bathed his horse in it, and Amida Falls resembles the head of Buddha. “The natural is beautiful only when it is unexpected” - this is the artist’s thought.

In his best works, Hokusai moved away from traditional Far Eastern painting, combining elements from the work of both old Japanese and modern European artists. In his prints, the wild nature of Japan received a new interpretation - as a symbol of the nation, as the embodiment of the best aspirations of the Japanese people, their spirit, as the pride of Japan.

Collections of Hokusai's prints were published in a series of albums called "Manga". Thus, the 1817 issue, entirely dedicated to wildlife, opened with a poetic preface by the writer Sinitui Samba: “And on Mount Tsukuba, where we climbed, the snow sparkled with myriads of precious stones under the rays of the morning sun. After passing through the fog, we climbed to the banks of Miho, where ancient pine trees grow in Siminoe. Then we stood in fear on the Kumeji Bridge and looked in amazement at the giant funi plants in Akita. This is how we came to know all the greatness of the Universe, the power of the universe. We saw the blossoming of red maples, and the moon, and snow, and spring, and autumn. Here everything was brought together, and it is difficult for us to describe the beauty of everything we saw, it was so majestic. The roar of the dizzying Ono Falls continued to echo in our ears.”

In addition to Fuji and the waterfalls, Hokusai also beautifully painted other corners of the Japanese wilderness. Engraving “Hitachi. Snow on Mount Tsukuba" depicts the harsh grandeur of a mountain on which there is no vegetation, no people, and which is perceived as an image of a grandiose and powerful free nature. The rock in the diptych “Blurred Rock in Soshu Province” appears as a huge black silhouette, resembling a giant beast standing on huge legs. The engraving “Typhoon” is dedicated to the raging elements. Three-quarters of the sheet is covered with white clouds hanging over the ground. In their ruptures, like an eerie vision, there appears a chaotic pile of sticks and boards lifted into the air by a hurricane.

The images of wild animals and plants are good. In the engraving “Wolf” the animal is depicted against the background of the moon. The beast sits and howls: sharp claws and raised fur are clearly visible. The wolf seems to fit into the white circle of the moon. A landscape with sparse bushes creates the impression of something wild and harsh.

In the print “Running Tiger,” Hokusai showed a tiger running, destroying everything in its path. Raised by a whirlwind, leaves and branches rush after it. You can feel the strength and power of a wild beast. “If you want to draw a bird, you must become a bird,” said Hokusai. Among his other famous images of wild animals and plants are: “Two Cranes on a Snowy Pine Tree”, “Canary and Peonies”, “Dragonfly in Flowers”, “Butterflies and Peonies”, “Bees and Chrysanthemums”, “Lilies”, “Orange” orchids”, “Irises”.

It is unlikely that Hokusai can be considered a pioneer in the landscape theme of ukiyo-e. Before him, Moronobu, Toyoharu, Kiyonaga, and Utamaro tried their brushes in landscape engraving. But only in the works of Hokusai did the landscape transform from an ordinary background for depicting beauties or actors in the open air into an independent genre, enchanting the viewer with the beauty of the surrounding wildlife.

Critically assessing his work, Hokusai wrote: “Until the age of 70, I did not do anything significant. At 73 years old, I finally understood the structure of animals, insects and fish, the nature of plants and trees. Therefore, I can say that up to the age of 86 my art will develop and by the age of 90 I will be able to penetrate into the very essence of art. By the age of 100 I will have reached a magnificent level, and at 110 years every point, every line will be life itself.” The art of ukiyo-e. // Japan today. - 2005. - No. 10. .

1.2 Prints by Utagawa (Ando) Hiroshige

Another great Japanese wildlife artist was Utagawa (Ando) Hiroshige (1797-1858). He created a unique series of prints depicting the free nature of Japan: “Famous Views of All Japan”, “Twenty-Eight Views of the Moon”, “Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido Road”, “Eight Views of Omi Province”, “More than Sixty Views of Provinces”, “Thirty-Six views of Mount Fuji", "Snow, moon, flowers", "Flowers and birds".

From the famous series “Twenty-Eight Views of the Moon,” time has preserved only two masterpieces. One of them is called “Luna-bow”, that is, a month shaped like a bow for shooting. The rocks of the mountain gorge rising to the sky above are connected by a fragile bridge. The gloomy stillness of the wild gorge is broken by a fast stream and the sparkling crescent of the month. Below the top edge of the bridge, a Chinese poem comments on the drawing:

The pre-dawn moon flies

Among thousands of trees.

The river of autumn flows

Among many faces to the West.

In another engraving, “The Moon Behind Autumn Leaves and a Waterfall,” a huge disk of the moon emerges from behind the blue stripe of a waterfall, carrying with it red leaves falling from a maple tree hanging over the water.

The series “Six Rivers of Tamba” is dedicated to the traditional Japanese poetry and painting theme of the beauty of the six Japanese rivers of the same name, Tamagawa (“pearl river”).

In the winter landscape “Mountains and Snow on the Kisoi Kaido Road,” the silhouettes of inaccessible rocks with their severity and severity give the engraving a symbolic character.

“Nature is so beautiful! - the artist never tired of repeating. “Even if you visit the same place more than once, it seems completely different each time.”

Such masterpieces of Hiroshige as “Naruto Whirlpools in Awa” (1853-1856), “Hakone. Mountain Lake", "Evening Snow on Mount Hira", "Kameyama. Snow in clear weather" (1833-1834), "Mountains in snow in the upper reaches of the Fujigawa River" (1841-1842), "Rocks above Lake Hakone", "View of Hakone", "Inum Pass in Kai Province", "Clear weather after the snowfall", "Kameyama".

The great master could not ignore the wild nature of Mount Fuji. Such of his works as “View of their Hakone”, “Lake Suwa in the Shinano Province”, “Fuski River” are known.

The artist not only successfully worked in the “mountains-water” genre, but also “flowers-birds”, assuring that in one tree he could hear the breath of the forest, and in one flower he could catch the aroma of the meadow (Vinogradova, 2004). Such of his masterpieces as “Owl on a Pine Branch” (1932), “Magpie on a Blooming Camellia”, “Sparrow over a Camellia Covered in Snow”, “Reed in the Snow and a Wild Duck” are known.

As art critic V. Dashkevich rightly writes, in Hiroshige’s works one can always feel philosophical Buddhist concepts about the endless variability of the world of wild nature, where there is no stop and no end. Hence, his engravings are asymmetrical, understated and incomplete. “Is it possible to admire cherries only once at the height of flowering and the full moon only in a cloudless sky? After all, yearning for the moon, hidden by a veil of rain, or, sitting at home and not seeing the steps of spring, thinking about it - all this, too, cannot but excite us with its charm. Much touches us both in the branches that are about to be covered with blossoming flowers, and in the garden that is crumbling and withering... Everything in the world has its own charm, both in its beginning and in its end” Quote. by: Lastochkina P.A. Nature in Asian art. - M.: Education, 2004. .

Hiroshige introduced genre motifs into the landscape, which on some sheets actually erased the line between landscape and everyday sketches. In popularity, it competed with Hokusai’s masterpieces from the Thirty-Six Views of Fuji series. The increased demand for Hiroshige’s landscapes led to the fact that the artist returned to the same subjects 20 times over the ensuing years, making some changes each time, giving images from a different angle, changing the format, etc. Therefore, the first version of the series, hereinafter referred to as specialists and amateurs as "Great Tokaido", differed in many ways from the series printed by the publisher Marusei Reisho in a horizontal format, or from the same series of graphic sheets in a vertical format (1853). The prints of the Fifty-Three Stations of Tokaido series laid the foundation for the national lyrical landscape of Tokutaro - Ichiyusai - Ichiryusai. // Japan today. - 2003. - No. 11. .

Chapter 2 The art of admiring wildlife in Japanese culture

2.1 Suiseki and bonseki

When studying history, literature and folklore, one can establish two main sources for the development of Japanese culture, one of them is the love of nature and the second is the scarcity of material resources. The Japanese love for nature is similar to the feeling that children have for their parents, admiring them and at the same time being afraid of them.

Although culture is usually seen as the antithesis of nature, the main characteristic of Japanese culture is that it is a nature-imitative culture, that is, built on the model of nature, and thereby contrasts sharply with the culture of other Asian countries, especially China Shunkichi Akimoto Studying the Japanese way of life. - M.: Education, 1961. .

Japan became acquainted with the first examples of penjins only at the beginning of the 7th century, when an embassy from China arrived at the court of Empress Suiko. Among the numerous gifts to the Japanese throne were penzhins. The Japanese began to call them in their own way - bonkei (landscape on a tray). Classic bonkei panoramic landscapes were made from clay, stones, sand and small plants, both dried and living. But even then it was possible to discern the preferences of individual artists in the selection of source materials. Thus, bonseki (literally: stones on a tray) - landscapes made exclusively from inanimate material: stones and sand, as well as the stones themselves, which, due to their unusual shape or texture, became objects of admiration, gained enormous popularity. Such stones were called suiseki (a word made up of two hieroglyphs - “water” and “stone”). Indeed, unlike the Chinese collections, which, as a rule, included stones with sharply defined edges, holes, chips, and depressions reminiscent of small grottoes, the Japanese preferred a calmer texture. They liked the stones, as if they had been rolled in by water. They were collected in the beds of dry streams, on the sea coast, and also in deserts, where suiseki were formed under the influence not of flowing water, but of dry wind, which over many millennia could give the stones an unexpected appearance.

Suiseki were not valued for the high cost of the minerals that formed them. A simple cobblestone could become infinitely valuable and unique. The main thing is that with its shape, color, texture it reminds the viewer of something else, sometimes elusive, but disturbing the memory and feelings. There are many suiseki, in the outlines of which you can see the contours of a mountain, an island, a waterfall, a stolen hut, an animal, a person, and even a Buddha. The sizes of these stones vary from a few centimeters to several decimeters. Most often, suiseki easily fits in the palm of your hand.

Over time, a classification of such stones was developed. Among them were rock-mountains (resembling volcanoes, mountain ranges, snow-capped peaks), rocks-plateaus, rocks-waterfalls, rocks-objects (a hint of the figure of a person, animal, bird, fish, insect, ship, bridge). In addition, suiseki differed in color (the Japanese most like shades of black), the nature of the surface (stones whose veins formed a flower pattern were especially valued), and the location of discovery.

The rules provide for two arrangement options: placing the stones on a tray covered with a layer of sand (suiban) or on a wooden stand (daiza). The choice depends on the characteristics of the stone. “Mountains”, “plateaus”, “waterfalls” are perfectly complemented by a sand cushion, as if growing out of it.

Initially, the art of admiring stones was intended for a narrow circle of people - the emperor and his courtiers, who were able to appreciate the subtlest nuances of beauty. One of the avid suisekists was Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339). With the growth of trade exchanges with China, the ideas of Zen Buddhism, warmly accepted by the samurai class, began to penetrate from the mainland to Japan. The art of suiseki very clearly reflected the canons of the new religion - simplicity bordering on asceticism, meditation and intuitive insight. Under the influence of Buddhist monks, admiring stones and finding hidden meaning in them became a method of spiritual self-improvement. This is how suiseki entered the lives of hundreds of thousands of samurai families Fosco Maraini Japan: lines of continuity. - M.: Education, 1971.

Only the lifting of bans on communication with foreigners, which followed the Meiji restoration (1868), opened the way for supplies from abroad. However, by that time many aristocrats had lost their former prosperity, and the expensive passion for stones began to gradually subside. Only in the twentieth century did interest in suiseki flare up again, fueled, moreover, by the fashion for this art that swept a number of Western countries. Associations of suiseki lovers began to emerge all over the world.

The art of bonseki also developed in parallel, although it can be very difficult to draw a line between it and suiseki. In fact, the constituent elements of the work of art in both cases are stones and sand laid out on a relatively small tray. The only difference, perhaps, is that in one case the sand plays the role of a pillow that sets off the grace of the stone, and in the other it is a full-fledged element of the work. Appropriately arranged layers of sand either create a picture of the sea licking the foot of a rocky island, or snow covering the icy top of a mountain, or a stream noisily making its way through the stone ridge of a river rift. This explains the meticulous attention with which bonseki lovers select sand for their works. As a rule, there are nine types of sand in use - from large grains to the finest powder. Thus, coarse dark sand is needed to mark river banks, while currents are associated with stripes of lighter, finer sand. There are also well-established techniques for reproducing the reflection of Mount Fuji in the surface of a lake or, say, a crane wedge flying over a river. The contrast of shades of dark stone and white sand on the black surface of the lacquered tray enhances the realism of the image, at the same time, forcing the viewer's mind to look for something unsaid, hidden in what he saw.

To create these paintings, a minimum of technical equipment is required - a small spoon, a bird's feather - and the endless patience of the master. The fact is that sand waves are not fixed by any plant or chemical composition. An unsuccessful movement, a slight draft in the room, and the painting created with great difficulty ceases to exist. Sometimes beginners resort to using adhesive substances, but true masters frown upon such a “trick.” Bonseki are created as purely temporary compositions, the lifespan of which is calculated in hours, or at best, days. At the same time, the artist strives to reflect in the stone and sand landscape not only his mood, but also the characteristic features of the season, weather conditions, and time of day. In this, too, one can see something from Eastern philosophy: the depiction of the variability of the momentary moment with eternal materials (stone and sand).

It should be noted that, despite its close proximity to other forms of landscape miniature - suiseki, bonkei, bonsai, the art of bonseki in its original source is directly related to religion. Even at the birth of this type of fine art, the “mountains” that appeared on the tray symbolized either Khoraisan, which in the minds of the followers of Taoism was an island of eternal youth, or Mount Sumer, sacred to all Buddhists. Later, these sensations were supplemented and enriched by the views of Japanese Shintoists. As a result, bonseki became a kind of mirror in which an inquisitive mind could try to consider the heavenly and earthly foundations of existence, the place of man, and in particular his own, in the system of the universe.

The further development of bonseki is directly related to the gardening art of Japan. After all, the famous philosophical rock gardens, including the garden of Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto, can be considered as bonseki enlarged to enormous proportions.

Both suiseki and bonseki can be considered the quintessence of the canons that determine the development of the national art of Japan. It is easy to see here most of the fundamental principles of Japanese aesthetics. Stones that have not been touched by the sculptor’s hammer, but retain their natural appearance in full, do not serve as a real picture of existence, but only hint at some phenomenon or image. The incompleteness of the image opens up endless possibilities for its personal interpretation. The most suitable for these types of art are stones whose colors seem to break through from the depths to the surface, as if there is a light source inside the stone.

Without a deep immersion in such concepts as wabi (the aesthetic and moral principle of moving away from the noise and luxury of light into the melancholic loneliness of self-knowledge), sabi (preference for true antiquity over the values of modern ones), shibui (the elegance of the simple), yugen (the search for truth not by logical constructs of the mind, and through sudden insight), practicing the art of suiseki and bonseki is impossible.

Unfortunately, the art of “stones on a tray” has lost popularity over time and is now almost on the verge of extinction. Although the once famous schools of bonseki art continue to function in Japan - Enzan, Hosokawa, Sekishu, Chikuan and Hino - there are hardly several hundred people in the country who devote themselves to this work with soul and understanding. For most, bonseki, if preserved, is only as a form of game crafts, entertainment in free time, or as a means of relieving the stress that accumulates during the work week. Suiseki and bonseki. // Japan today. - 2005. - No. 9. .

2 . 2 The art of bonsai and saikei

If the materials for making a miniature landscape are only stones and sand, we are talking about suiseki and bonseki, but if the author adds elements of living nature to the composition - grass, moss, trees - then the terms bonsai and saikei should be used.

All the main directions and techniques for creating an artificial landscape on a tray (bonkei) were born in China. The art of bonsai (growing miniature trees in pots) is no exception, although many consider it a phenomenon that relates exclusively to Japanese culture. As evidenced by old manuscripts and drawings discovered on the walls of ancient Chinese burials, more than a thousand years ago Chinese craftsmen learned to reduce the size of some types of vegetation tens of times. These graceful plants were then planted along paths in the gardens of emperors or nobles. The Chinese began to add small trees to penjins (miniature artificial reliefs made of stones and sand), giving mini-landscapes additional authenticity.

This knowledge was received with interest in neighboring countries - Korea, Vietnam, Thailand. And they reached Japan only in the Kamakura era (1185-1333), along with other cultural borrowings from the continent that accompanied the spread of Buddhism, especially its Zen variety. We must also pay tribute to the Japanese craftsmen, who seriously refined the skills of visiting craftsmen and turned the decorative techniques of foreign gardeners into real art. It was the Japanese who made bonsai a self-sufficient art, ceasing to consider it only as one of the components of Chinese penjin. Moreover, it was in Japan that this art, having crossed the fences of the imperial villas, became truly popular.

This art reached its greatest popularity in the 18th - 19th centuries. Then there was another surge between 1926 and 1940. And now many people are trying to uncover the secrets of bonsai, and not only in Japan, but this is more of a hobby, a pastime, rather than a selfless tribute to art. In Japan, the first public demonstration of mini-trees was held in October 1927 in the capital's Hibiya Park. Similar opening days continued annually until 1933, after which the exhibition area was moved to the halls of the art museum in Ueno. And the Western world became acquainted with bonsai much earlier - at the end of the 19th century. Several examples of dwarf plants were exhibited in the Japanese pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris (1889). But the 1909 exhibition in London was met with protests. The British criticized Japanese craftsmen for the “inhumane torment” of trees.

The art of bonsai is based on the technique of artificially reducing the size of living plants Ovchinnikov V.V. Oak roots. - M.: Education, 1989. .

Practicing bonsai requires a lot of patience. To master the basic principles of growing miniature trees, you need to spend 5-10 years. It is said that it takes at least three years to learn how to properly water a bonsai. It is easy to understand that this art is more attractive to older people. It's not just a matter of having free time and the ability to approach any work without fuss, which is only given by life experience. There is a certain symbolic connection between bonsai and immortality, because often a tree is passed down in a family from generation to generation, along with the memory of those who planted and grew it. With good care, a bonsai can live for hundreds of years. Thus, the most famous specimen that has survived to this day is pine, the first owner of which was shogun Iemitsu Tokugawa (1604-1651). It is not for nothing that the Japanese consider pine a symbol of eternity.

Older bonsai specimens are valued higher than younger ones. But age is not the only criterion here. The main thing is that the plant produces the intended artistic impression, matches the size of its container and is healthy. There are two main directions in the classification of bonsai - koten (classical) and bunjin (informal). The classics suggest that the trunk of a tree should be thicker at the base and thinner at the top. Bunjin proceeds from the opposite criterion, which, it should be noted, can be very difficult to achieve. A true artist, and this is exactly how the masters of this art should be treated, never strives to duplicate to the smallest detail what he sees in nature. Working with a plant, he tries to express his own sense of the aesthetics of the living. The prototype can be, say, the scenery of a Kabuki theater performance, a grotesque illustration of ancient poems, or one’s own idea of trees bending under a hurricane wind. But in any case, the bonsai should look natural, as if it had never been touched by human hands.

A few words about the styles characteristic of this art: vertical, inclined, cascading (when the tree bends over the edge of the container and the trunk goes down), with a twisted trunk, with a double trunk (when a single trunk bifurcates at the base), group (when the side shoots are under under the influence of the master, they are formed so that they resemble a group of trees growing nearby), with a rocky base (when the roots appear especially beautifully on the stone).

There is one type of bonsai that is gradually branching off from the main direction, gaining independence. This is saikei. It differs from bonsai in that the composition of a miniature landscape on a tray is built not from one plant, but from several, often belonging to different species. Saikei fans love to include herbs in the composition, including flowering ones. On a tray with saikei it is permissible to place small figures - people, animals, houses, bridges. The white sand symbolizes the flow of water at the foot of the trees. The size of these arrangements requires larger trays, but they are smaller than bonsai containers. That is, we are talking about a phenomenon that occupies an intermediate position between bonkei and bonsai. This is reflected in the name of the art, which consists of two hieroglyphs meaning “plant” and “species” World in Miniature (Japanese art). / Ed. Avalova T.I. - Minsk: Art, 1999. .

2.3 Garden art and hanami

Garden art is a unique phenomenon that represents a carefully developed philosophical and aesthetic system of understanding Nature as a universal model of the universe. Thanks to this, any Japanese garden - be it a medieval temple or a modern decorative one - contains, to one degree or another, an echo of the Absolute. Water, stones, trees, bushes, mosses, flowers, herbs are not just material for the garden designer, but particles of the Universe that have hidden significance.

The word "niva" (garden) first appears in the Nihongi (Annals of Japan, 720) as a designation of empty space intended for the worship of gods. According to Shintoism, the entire world surrounding a person is inhabited by many deities living in huge stones, old trees, mountains, waterfalls, lakes, and wells. Not only the objects themselves were revered, but also the space around them. A special attitude towards space will become a fundamental principle in Japanese gardens.

From the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e. under the influence of Buddhism, gardens became a symbolic expression of the Buddhist Universe. Its center was considered Mount Sumeru, which in the garden was marked by a small hill in the middle of a pond that replicated the sacred Lake Munetsunochi. The stones in the pond depicted the nine islands and eight seas of the Buddhist cosmogonic myth.

Shintoism and Buddhism formed the basic concept of the Japanese garden as such. It expresses in figurative, capacious symbols the idea of the world order and the original harmony of the world. Gardens, like other forms of art, have evolved with the passage of time and changes in society. But the main elements in them were always water and stones. Water is a symbol of the negative, feminine, dark, soft yin force, and stones are a symbol of the light, masculine, positive, hard yang force. Their eternal confrontation and inextricable unity, according to the ancient dualistic idea, are the basis of the existence of the world.

In the Nara era (8th century), when the influence of Chinese culture was great, the influence of mainland samples was also visible in the gardens. They were spacious, with large bodies of water on which you could ride boats, with pavilions and gazebos.

The gardens of the Heian era (VIII-XII centuries) were reflected in the spread in Japan of the teachings of the Buddhist sect Jodo (Pure Land), which proclaimed faith in Buddha Amida (Buddha of the Western Paradise). The court aristocrats, among whom at that time the Chinese orientation was replaced by a tendency to form their own national culture, began to create gardens around their villas, which were perceived as the earthly embodiment of Amida's paradise. They reflected the refined spirit of court culture, in which all manifestations of people’s lives were aestheticized and poeticized, and met the need for lyrical inspiration and exquisite emotions from the beauties of Nature in the rotation of the seasons of Fedorov M.Yu. Garden art in Japanese culture. - M.: Art, 2005. .

In the most famous Heian novel, Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Prince Genji), written by court lady Murasaki Shikibu (10th century), there are constant references to gardens.

“No sooner had the simple cherries fallen off than the multi-petalled cherries blossomed, and after them the mountain kabadzakura cherries were decorated with flowers. When they also bloomed, the time for wisteria came. The departed lady, who penetrated into the soul of flowers, planted both early and late plants in the garden, and each blossomed in its own time.” (Translation by T. Sokolova-Delyusina.)

Huge impact on the entire Japanese culture from the end of the 13th century. The Buddhist sect of Zen began to provide The gardens of Zen monasteries began to purposefully express the idea of understanding Nature as the embodiment of the Absolute, Truth, that is, the spirit of Buddha. They organically became involved in the atmosphere of monastic life with its strict discipline and psychophysical exercises, which helped adepts on their path to achieving “satori” (enlightenment). The gardens were created by famous Zen masters, monks and artists close to these circles.

The Zen garden was no longer intended for walking as before. Its function was similar to landscape scrolls - to help in the practice of contemplation. The inherent tendency towards laconicism in Japanese culture contributed to the reduction of the garden landscape. This is how the famous dry gardens appeared, in which the forces of yin-yang continued to exist, but real water was symbolically replaced by sand and gravel. All of them fascinate with their mysterious abstractness, but the garden of Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto is the pinnacle of Japanese garden art of that time.

In order to calm the mind, a person turns to meditation. “Let’s sit in silence and immerse ourselves in the contemplation of the rock garden...” And then, as one of the abbots of this temple imagines, a person can see, instead of a platform with stones, an endless expanse of water with protruding mountain peaks or their own, rising above a veil of clouds... “By concentrating on the motionless, you feel the movement of higher rhythms.”

Zen culture created another wonderful version of the garden - a tea garden. The garden, located in front of the entrance, or rather, leading to the entrance to the tea house, is an important component in this ceremony, helping the participants to properly tune in to the upcoming action. The aesthetics of the garden in this case is entirely consistent with the ideals of the Tea Ceremony, based on the principles of simplicity, modesty, naturalness, and discreet charm.

There is a well-known story about the great master of the tea ceremony, Sen no Rikyu (16th century) and his son. Rikyu instructed his son to clean the garden. He conscientiously swept there, washed the lanterns and the stones of the path, but each time his father said that the cleaning was still imperfect. When his son no longer knew what to do, Rikyu went up to the maple tree, which was red with its autumn leaves, and shook it. The bright stars of maple leaves gave the entire garden an inspired poetry.

Loyalty to old traditions, combined with new creative thinking, allows modern masters of landscape design to create masterpieces to match classical examples.

One of them is the Genji Garden, created in 1966 at the Rozan Temple in Kyoto in memory of Murasaki Shikibu and her novel. According to surviving information, there was once a house where the writer lived here.

This is also a dry garden. Against the background of light gravel there are green islands of mosses of random shapes, reminiscent of clouds. In some places, bushes of purple bells are planted on them. The image of the garden combines touching tenderness and noble restraint. Behind the spectacular thoughtfulness of the composition lies an elegant symbolic subtext. Purple bells are called murasaki in Japanese. The discreet beauty of these flowers is worthy of the memory of Murasaki Shikibu. The islands of moss in the shape of clouds are related to Prince Genji. After the story of Genji's last days and his passing, there follows an unusual chapter consisting of one title: "Hiding in the Clouds." A Void appears before the reader, from which everything comes and into which everything goes.

Japanese gardens are a space for the elements and imagination, unique windows into another reality. At the same time, they remain gardens in which a person can admire the endless beauty of Japan Nature from A to Z. - http://www.japantoday.ru. .

"Hanami", admiring the cherry blossoms, is the most beloved tradition of the Japanese. According to historians, the tradition of admiring cherry blossoms originated at the imperial court in Kyoto during the Heian period (794-1185). But before this period, connoisseurs of beauty were more partial to the blossoming plum tree (“ume”), whose trees were brought to Japan from China and were considered a symbol of foreign culture. When the practice of sending envoys to China was abolished in 894, the imperial court began to value its own culture and traditions more. So over time, the sakura flower became more popular in Japan.

Admiring cherry blossoms is included in the list of official holidays and rituals. One of the most famous “hanami” was held in 1598 by the military leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After achieving complete victory over the Separatist princes and establishing control over the entire country, Hideyoshi led a procession of 1,300 people to the Daigo Shrine in Kyoto, where a cherry blossom celebration was held. This event became a favorite subject of numerous poems and productions of the No theater.

In the next century, ordinary people began to increasingly share the love for the “hanami” of their masters. During the reign of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867), many cherry trees were brought from Mount Yoshino (Nara Prefecture) to Edo to decorate the new political center of the country. Thanks to the “sankin kotei” system established by the shogun, when every Japanese feudal lord was obliged to live in Edo for at least a year, a huge number of sakura trees were delivered in clothing convoys to the capital from all over the country. At this time, new varieties of trees also appeared, which were bred as a result of both natural and artificial crossing. Now in Japan there are more than 300 types of sakura, although no more than 10 types are natural. Sakura flowers were also a favorite subject of many famous artists. They appear in countless paintings, poems, and later photographs and films, not to mention the fact that sakura is the most popular design on women's kimonos Hiroko Kimuro Sakura, sakura is everywhere you look. - http://www.ecoethics.ru. .

For example, consider the famous haiku by Basho (1644-1694):

blooming cloud

And the evening bells

To Asakusa or Ueno?

A typical Japanese landscape: spring, surrounded by a pale pink haze of cherry blossoms. The time of day is twilight. The sun has just set, the colors are fading, but the objects around are still visible. The time of day in the poem is indicated by the ringing of bells, which can only be heard in the evening when the bells of the Buddhist temples of Kaneiji in Ueno and Sensoji in Asakusa ring.

This poem was written by Basho in a hut on the banks of the Sumidagawa River, from where the poet could see the cherry blossoms blooming around the famous Buddhist temples. It’s surprising that such a capacious landscape can be conveyed in just three lines, and this is the main advantage of haiku:

In the garden where the irises have opened,

Talk to the old

my friend,

What a reward for the traveler!

(Matsuo Basho)

The constant threat of unforeseen natural disasters inherent in the nature of the Japanese islands has formed in the people a soul that is very sensitive to environmental changes. Buddhism added here its favorite theme of the impermanence of the world. Both of these prerequisites together led Japanese art to the glorification of variability and frailty.

To be happy or sad about the changes that time brings with it is inherent in all peoples. But perhaps only the Japanese were able to see the source of beauty in fragility. It is no coincidence that they chose sakura as their national flower.

Spring does not bring with it to the Japanese islands that struggle of the elements when rivers break the ice shackles and melt waters turn the plains into boundless seas. The long-awaited time for the awakening of nature begins here with a sudden and violent outbreak of cherry blossoms. Its pink inflorescences excite and delight the Japanese not only with their abundance, but also with their fragility. Sakura petals do not fade. Spinning merrily, they fly to the ground from the lightest breath of wind. They prefer to fall while still quite fresh, rather than sacrifice their beauty in any way. Ovchinnikov V.V. Sakura branch. - M.: Soviet writer, 1988. .

The poeticization of variability and fragility is associated with the views of the Buddhist sect of Zen, which left a deep mark on Japanese culture. The meaning of the Buddha's teachings, Zen followers say, is so deep that it cannot be expressed in words. It can be comprehended not by reason, but by intuition; not through the study of sacred texts, but through some sudden insight. Moreover, such moments are most often led by contemplation of nature, the ability to always find harmony with the environment, to see the significance of the little things in life.

Chapter 3 Wildlife in Japanese landscape poetry

3.1 Depiction of nature in haiku

Haiku is one of the most popular traditional forms of Japanese poetry and an integral part of the national culture. This poetic branch arose more than 700 years ago in the 17th century. reached full bloom and perfection.

Haiku is a poem that is special in form and content, having its own distinctive features. Haiku can be philosophical and religious, satirical or humorous, sad or funny, but it is always poetry, and, moreover, due to its extreme brevity, haiku can be called “the quintessence of poetry.” The basis of a poem is a verbally outlined detail that serves as the starting point for a chain of thoughts and emotions that recreate the picture as a whole. Haiku is reminiscent of the ink sketch that is so popular and prized in Japan.

Among haiku poets there was an opinion that classical haiku presupposed the presence of renso, or association of images. The old masters of this genre of poetry believed that a haiku poem should contain kigo, or "seasonal" words, providing the basis for a future detailed picture that the reader should create in his imagination. “Seasonal” words are words that personify the seasons: summer heat, spring or autumn wind, autumn rain. For example, bindweed-asagao (“morning face”), cicada, grasshopper symbolize summer, sakura flowers symbolize spring, etc.

But seasonal words indicate more than just the seasons. Asagao, for example, reminds the Japanese reader of the ephemerality of human life, that everything in this world is transitory and impermanent. The willow tree in Japanese poetry often symbolizes the sadness of separation.

The origins of haiku as a special form of versification have not been fully explored. In ancient times, the most popular form of Japanese poetry was tanka, a poem consisting of 31 syllables (5-7-5-7-7). Historically, haiku emerged as an independent poetic form much later than tanka.

There is an opinion that haiku emerged from tanka at the end of the Heian period (794-1191). At that time, a poetic game was widespread in the circles of the court aristocracy, the meaning of which was that to the given three lines tanks, i.e. the missing two lines were added to the first part of the poem, consisting of 17 syllables (5-7-5) (the second part, consisting of 14 syllables - 7-7). These two parts, connected as a whole by the association of images, came to be called renga, and the first part, consisting of 17 syllables, was called haikai no renga. The oldest such poems that have come down to us were written in the 13th century. T. Fujiwara, who is known as the compiler of the famous anthology “Hyakunin isshu” (“One masterpiece from a hundred poets,” ca. 1235).