of time it was modified profoundly from its antecedent forms. Similarly, Chinese urban design was introduced in the layouts of the ancient capital cities of Nara and Kyōto but did not proliferate in the archipelago. The dual influences of East and West have helped construct a modern Japanese culture that offers familiar elements to the Westerner but that also contains a powerful and distinctive traditional cultural aesthetic. This can be The dual influences of East and West seen, for example, in the intricate detail, miniaturization, and concepts of subtlety that have transformed imported visual art forms. This aesthetic is best captured in the Japanese concept of shibui (literally, “astringent”), or refined understatement in all manner of artistic representation. Closely related are the twin ideals of cultivated simplicity and poverty (wabi) and of the celebration of that which is old and faded (sabi). Underlying all three is the notion of life’s transitory and evanescent nature, which is linked to Buddhist thought (particularly Zen) but can be traced to the earliest examples of Japanese literature. EC text extracted from Britannica modern Japanese culture that offers familiar elements to the Westerner but that also contains a powerful and distinctive traditional cultural aesthetic. have helped construct a
recently from the Western world. Japan has followed a cycle of selectively absorbing foreign cultural values and institutions and then adapting these to existing indigenous patterns, this latter process often occurring during periods of relative political isolation. Thus, outside influences were assimilated, but the basic sense of Japaneseness was unaffected; for example, Buddhist deities were adopted into the Shintō pantheon. Japan’s effort to modernize quickly in the late 19th and 20th centuries—albeit undertaken at great national and personal sacrifice—was really an extension of the same processes at work in the country for centuries. Prehistoric Japanese culture was exposed to ancient Chinese cultural
influences beginning some two millennia ago. One consequence of these influences was the imposition of the gridiron system of land division, which long endured; it is still possible to trace the ancient place- names and field division lines of this system. Chinese writing and many other Chinese developments were introduced in the early centuries CE; the writing system underwent many modifications over the centuries, since it did not fit the Japanese language. Buddhism— which originated in India and underwent modification in Central Asia, China, and Korea before reaching Japan about the 6th century—also exerted a profound influence on Japanese cultural life, although over the course
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EC Magazines | Summer Edition 2022
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