Paper, Order, or Assignment Requirements

Although we have studied it only a few weeks, you will likely have ideas about how Japanese art both reflects its contact with other cultures – most especially China and Korea – and how it also adapted the various foreign beliefs, arts, and philosophies that crossed the ocean to arrive at Japan’s borders. Japan’s protected location in relation to China and Korea meant its ruling classes were able to select from specific foreign influences that over time were adapted to Japanese ideals, needs, and culture. Choose 1 or 2 (no more than 2) art objects or types of objects from Japan that in some way have been borrowed from another culture (that you identify), and discuss how these objects or object types reflect both their origin and how they have been adapted to the needs of their Japanese makers. You should consider the original use/meaning within the culture of origin, and how that use or meaning has been adapted for a new environment and people.