Asian Art : Ukiyo-e Style

The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai

Asian art refers to art among the many cultures present in Asia. Asian art can be
Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Israeli, Thai, Korea or Indian art. Though Asian art has vast and
various divisions, all of these different Asian arts have similar characteristics that bind them
together. Generally, Asian art is much focused on the spiritual side of life and the natural
things in the world, which is the opposite of the Western art and culture which are more
focused on portraits. Asian art also has 4 major characteristics that groups the various art
types found in Asia: Delicate imagery, spiritual art, Batik and woodblock prints.
Delicate imagery includes silk painting which are painted on scrolls with
watercolours. Though at the present silk painting is strongly associated with China, delicate
imagery emerged in India. These type of paintings use strong and striking colors that
complement each other well. Two of the most common subjects in these type of paintings
are birds and flowers.
Just like delicate imagery, we can find the roots of spiritual art in early Indian.
Spiritual art started when religious imagery or sculptures of Gods and Goddesses was
dominating art. It flourished as Buddhism was flourishing that time in India. Today, it is seen
that Buddhism has influenced Asian art especially Chinese art generally, with Buddha
statues being a well-known example.
The third characteristics is Batik which is a known way of producing patterns through
dyeing fabrics. The process of dyeing can be repeated numerous times depending on how
intricate the planned design is. Batik patterns are now widely distributed in Asia but is
particularly popular in Indonesia, Malaysia and Southern part of the Philippines.
The last characteristic known is popular in Chinese and Japanese art, Woodblock
prints. Woodblock prints originated from China but since Japan is a colony of China during
the ancient times, Japanese art was greatly influenced by woodblock prints of the Chinese.
Though this kind of art is rooted to Chinese art, the Japanese came up with a more beautiful
form of woodblock prints: Ukiyo-e Style.
Ukiyo-e is a genre of woodblock prints and paintings that flourished from17th to 19 th
century in Edo, the capital of Japan. If translated in English, Ukiyo-e means “pictures of the
floating world. Artworks of this style is commonly connected with the pleasures of theatres,
restaurants, teahouses, geisha and courtesans. Some are also about the scenes from nature.
During the young age of this art, colour prints is not a thing. It is only in 1740 that full colour
production were made by Harunobu. Since making of this artwork is tedious, it is rare for
artists to cut their woodblocks.
Ukiyo-e artworks have bright, sharp and monochromatic colors. Artworks of this
style are characterized of having well-defined, bold flat line with an arrangement of forms in
flat spaces thus, typically arranged in a single plane of depth. Pigments used in painting this
artwork is usually from organic or mineral substances.

Asian Art | Ukiyo-e Style

 One of the greatest Ukiyo-e artwork and is the most well-known artwork from Japan
is the “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Katsushika Hokusai.
In this artwork, there are large waves of
the open sea hovering over 3 boats. On the back
part, a small-scaled Mt. Fuji was painted as in all
the prints in the series, Thirty-six views of Mount
Fuji. It depicts the area around Mount Fuji under
particular conditions, and the mountain itself
appears in the background.
To fully understand how
Katsushika Hokusai had come up with a
magnificent masterpiece, it is essential to know a little about his life. He was born on 1760,
the time when the art of Ukiyo-e styles were flourishing. He is a Buddhist which explains
why he chose Mt. Fuji as the subject of his famous Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji. He was
born into an artisan family and his father is a mirror maker. Since mirror makers have the
talent and ability to carve woods for mirror borders, it is from his father that he had learned
to cut his own wood blocks. From a young age of six, Hokusai had started painting. At age
fourteen, he became an apprentice to a wood-carver where he worked until he was 18.
Then at the same year, he-got accepted into the studio of Katsukawa Shunsho- an artist who
specialized in wood block prints and paintings. When his master died, he studied by himself
some distinct Japanese, Chinese, Dutch and French Painting. From this, it is not surprising
that he is such a great artist. Moreover, before Katsushika Hokusai painted this artwork, he
had already been through a succession of personal and family problems. In the 1820s, while
he was in his 60s, misfortune in his life had piled upon: in 1826, he was in financial
difficulties; in 1827, he suffered from stroke; in 1828, his wife dies; and in 1829, he was
obliged to adopt and rescue his grandson financially. Thus, leaving him with a more intense
financial consequences.
In interpreting the beautiful artwork, I first saw how Hokusai himself came up with it
based on the life trials he had been facing. Maybe for Hokusai, this artwork was an
expression of what he was experiencing. The large waves depicts the piled up misfortunes
and trials in his life and the 3 boats, probably with fishermen on it, is him. He wants to show
in his painting that the life trials seem to eat him as shown on the painting with the large
waves that seem to eat the boats. Although he was almost drowned by the misfortunes, he
didn’t forget about his faith and religion as a source of strength and hopefulness as shown
on the appearance of Mt. Fuji, a famous symbol of Buddhism in Japan.
Regardless the life story of Hokusai, I saw the painting the same way he does. In life,
it seems like, sometimes, the hovering large waves of trials and misfortunes will eat us alive
and we feel so small. But, it’s life, it’s nature thus, it is really more powerful than us and it
has the ability to eat us and make us feel powerless. We don’t have the power to contradict
its power. All we got to do is to go with the flow of life in order to continue this wonderful
journey despite of the fears we have.

Asian Art | Ukiyo-e Style

Asian Art | Ukiyo-e Style