EAST ASIAN
ARTS
Quarter 2
• East Asian countries specifically China, Japan
and Korea have been noted for their numerous
similarities and commonalities in their art
production, artistic traditions and principles of
arts as influenced by their history, beliefs,
religion, location, culture and dynasty.
•The arts and crafts of China, Japan and
Korea such as painting, calligraphy,
pottery, paper kites, knot tying,
woodblock printing, ukiyo- e and paper
cutting focus on nature as their subjects
or themes. Nature has always been
regarded as an element of utmost
importance in East Asian countries.
PAINTING IN
CHINA, JAPAN
and KOREA
 Painting is indeed one of the highest
forms of arts in East Asia.
 Subjects, themes or motifs are the
objects or items that are usually put
into paintings. These may be about
animals, people, landscapes, and
anything about the environment.
 Landscape painting was regarded as the highest form
of Chinese painting. They also consider the three
concepts of their arts: Nature, Heaven and Humankind
(Yin- Yang).
 Japanese painting, and later printmaking, is the
depiction of scenes from everyday life and narrative
scenes that are often crowded with figures and detail.
This tradition began in the early medieval period under
Chinese influence.
 Mountain and Water are important features in Korean
landscape painting because it is a site for building
temples and buildings
Festivals and
theater
performances in
East Asia
 Performers of Kabuki in Japan and Peking
Opera in China use their faces as the canvas
for painting while mask painting is done in
Korea.
 The makeup and perfume worn throughout
performances were highly significant to the
stories that were being told in the kabuki play.
PAPER ARTS and
KNOT TYING of China,
Japan and Korea
“Paper has a great function in the development of arts not only in East Asia
but all over the world”
 Paper was first invented by Cai Lun of the
Eastern Han Dynasty in China.
 It is indeed one of the greatest contributions of
ancient China in the development of arts
 Chinese folk art is created with materials that are
naturally found within the locality.
 This shows that the Chinese are nature lovers.
 Jianzhi is the first type of paper cutting design,
since paper was invented by the Chinese.
“Origami”
 The term Origami came from “ori” meaning
"folding", and “kami” meaning "paper".
 The goal of this art is to transform a flat sheet
of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and
sculpting techniques without cutting as much as
possible.
 The best known Japanese origami
is the paper crane
“KNOT TYING”
 In Korea, decorative knotwork is known as “Maedeup
or called Dorae” or double connection knot, often
called Korean knot work or Korean knots.
 Zhongguo is the Chinese decorative handicraft art
that began as a form of Chinese folk art in the Tang
and Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) in China.
 In Japan, knot tying is called Hanamusubi. It
emphasizes on braids and focuses on individual
knots.