Japan Tourist Guides — Culture

Japanese culture ranges from their rich traditional heritage exemplified by the elaborate tea ceremony, graceful forms of ikebana and bonsai, formal No theatre, spectacular and melodramatic Kabuki to the frenzied pop and punk culture driven by modern life and technology in the cities. Apart from these better known cultural forms, Japan is a treasure trove of unique fine and folk arts such as porcelain Japanese dolls, intricate kimonos, chiseled stone lanterns, hand crafted ceramic dishes and lacquer bowl. Japanese art is characterized by high quality and intricate craftsmanship, with style and form ranging from the highly stylized Edo wood blocks to the wild and bizarre in many Buddhist scrolls. Although influences from China and Korea are inherent in Japanese culture prior to the 17th century, the culture displays an aesthetic that is uniquely its own.

Food
Japan's traditional fish diet is one of the healthiest in the world. Seafood is available in plenty - and always accompanies the traditional meal of gohan (a bowl of rice), miso shiru (miso soup) tsukemono (pickled vegetables). While sushi, tempera and robatayaki and tepenyaki are synonymous with Japanese cuisine, lesser known but equally interesting cooking forms are available - such as shabu-shabu (meat and vegetables cooked in broth and eaten with sauces, okonomiyaki (a mixture of meat, seafood and vegetables fried in a cabbage and vegetable batter), and sukiyaki (sliced beef, vegetables and tofu in broth).

Music
Traditional Japanese music, known as Hogaku, is of various styles. On of the oldest is Gagaku, which was performed in courts and is inherited from China and Korea. Japanese instruments include the Biwa (a guitar with four strings), Hayashi flute, Tsuzumi drum, Koto (a zither with 13 strings), Shakuhachi (a 55 cm long flute), Shamisen (a three-stringed guitar), and taiko drums. Nogaku music accompanies No performances, and Shamisenongaku accompanies Kabuki and Bunraku performances.

Japanese Garden
The Japanese garden is a unique concept. It is an art form that represents an idealized concept of nature as interpreted by its creator. Characterized by exquisite landscaped gardens, stone lanterns, manicured plants, and balanced with stone, sand, rocks and bridges over reflective pools of water, the Japanese garden is a Zen-like experience in itself.

Art, Architecture and Literature
Early 7th and 8th century art were greatly influenced by Buddhism, which was spreading to Japan from China. Japan in the 9th century saw a greater proliferation of secular art, with the Japanese beginning to develop indigenous forms of expression. Painting is an important part of Japanese art, and Japanese mastery over crafts is partly because the Japanese used the brush to write with even till modern times. Their mastery over the fluidity of painting has not been matched in the field of sculpture, which is mostly religious in form. As with everything Japanese, there is a wide variety of expression, ranging from disciplined and refined artistry to exuberance and wild color.

Significantly, women writers dominated early Japanese literature. Men were educated in Chinese, and therefore the influences of Chinese languages and styles are predominant in literature by men. Women however wrote in the Japanese script, and therefore developed authentic Japanese literature.

Tea Ceremony
The Japanese Tea ceremony is not just serving a cup of tea; it is an elaborate ceremony of preparation of powdered green tea by a skilled practitioner who is also has in depth knowledge of the production and types of tea and other traditional knowledge such as kimono, calligraphy, flower arranging and ceramics.

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