Seni bina Jepun

Senibina Jepun, struktur binaan Jepun dan konteksnya. Karakteristik seni bina Jepun yang meluas - dan, sememangnya, dari semua seni visual Jepun - adalah pemahaman tentang dunia semula jadi sebagai sumber wawasan rohani dan cerminan emosi manusia.

Ciri umum

Kepekaan agama pribumi yang telah lama mendahului agama Buddha merasakan bahawa alam rohani nyata di alam. Singkapan batuan, air terjun, dan pohon-pohon tua yang dipahat dianggap sebagai tempat tinggal roh dan dipahami sebagai keperibadian mereka. Sistem kepercayaan ini menganugerahkan banyak sifat dengan sifat-sifat yang indah. Pada gilirannya, ia memelihara rasa kedekatan dan keakraban dengan dunia roh serta kepercayaan terhadap kebaikan umum alam. Kitaran musim sangat instruktif dan mengungkapkan, misalnya, bahawa kebolehubahan dan kesempurnaan transenden bukanlah norma semula jadi. Segala-galanya difahami sebagai subjek kitaran kelahiran, hasil, kematian, dan pembusukan. Oleh itu, pengertian fahaman Buddha tentang kesegaran digabungkan dengan kecenderungan orang asli untuk meminta petunjuk dari alam.

Kedekatan dengan alam semula jadi yang diperhatikan dan memperkukuhkan estetika yang secara amnya dapat mengelakkan artifis. Dalam penghasilan karya seni, kualiti semula jadi bahan konstitutif diberi penekanan khusus dan difahami sebagai tidak terpisahkan dengan makna apa pun karya yang diakui. Contohnya, ketika, patung Buddha Jepun abad ke-9 berpindah dari model Tang stuko atau gangsa dan berubah menjadi kayu semula jadi yang tidak berwarna, bentuk ikonografi kuno sudah disatukan dengan penghormatan kayu yang sudah ada dan bertingkat.

Kesatuan dengan alam semula jadi juga merupakan unsur seni bina Jepun. Senibina nampaknya sesuai dengan alam semula jadi. Simetri rancangan kuil gaya Cina memberi jalan keluar yang tidak simetri yang mengikuti kontur khas topografi berbukit dan berbukit. Sempadan yang ada antara struktur dan dunia semula jadi sengaja dikaburkan. Unsur-unsur seperti beranda panjang dan beberapa panel gelongsor menawarkan pemandangan alam yang tetap — walaupun sifatnya sering disusun dan dibuat dengan teliti dan bukannya liar dan nyata.

The perfectly formed work of art or architecture, unweathered and pristine, was ultimately considered distant, cold, and even grotesque. This sensibility was also apparent in tendencies of Japanese religious iconography. The ordered hierarchical sacred cosmology of the Buddhist world generally inherited from China bore the features of China’s earthly imperial court system. While some of those features were retained in Japanese adaptation, there was also a concurrent and irrepressible trend toward creating easily approachable deities. This usually meant the elevation of ancillary deities such as Jizō Bosatsu (Sanskrit: Kshitigarbha bodhisattva) or Kannon Bosatsu (Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva) to levels of increased cult devotion. The inherent compassion of supreme deities was expressed through these figures and their iconography.

The formative period

The terminology and chronology used in describing pre- and protohistoric Japan is generally agreed to be that of a Paleolithic, or Pre-Ceramic, stage dating from approximately 30,000 bce (although some posit an initial date as early as 200,000 bce); the Jōmon period (c. 10,500 bce–c. 3rd century bce), variously subdivided; the Yayoi period (c. 3rd century bce–c. 250 ce); and the Tumulus, or Kofun, period (c. 250–710 ce).

The Jōmon period

The Jōmon period is generally subdivided into six phases: Incipient Jōmon (c. 10,500–8000 bce), Initial Jōmon (c. 8000–5000 bce), Early Jōmon (c. 5000–2500 bce), Middle Jōmon (c. 2500–1500 bce), Late Jōmon (c. 1500–1000 bce), and Final Jōmon (c. 1000–300 bce).

Early Jōmon (c. 5000–2500 bce) sites suggest a pattern of increased stabilization of communities, the formation of small settlements, and the astute use of abundant natural resources. A general climatic warming trend encouraged habitation in the mountain areas of central Honshu as well as coastal areas. Remains of pit houses have been found arranged in horseshoe formations at various Early Jōmon sites. Each house consisted of a shallow pit with a tamped earthen floor and a grass roof designed so that rainwater runoff could be collected in storage jars.

Early Jōmon vessels generally continued the earliest profile of a cone shape, narrow at the foot and gradually widening to the rim or mouth, but most had flat bottoms, a feature found only occasionally in the Initial Jōmon (c. 8000–5000 bce) period. The discovery of increasing varieties of flat-bottomed vessels appropriate for cooking, serving, and providing storage on flat earthen floors correlates with the evidence of the gradual formation of pit-house villages.

In the Late Jōmon (c. 1500–1000 bce), colder temperatures and increased rainfall forced migration from the central mountains to the eastern coastal areas of Honshu. There is evidence of even greater interest in ritual, probably because of the extensive decrease in population. From this time are found numerous ritual sites consisting of long stones laid out radially to form concentric circles. These stone circles, located at a distance from habitations, may have been related to burial or other ceremonies. Previously disparate tribes began to exhibit a greater cultural uniformity.

Evidence from the Final Jōmon (c. 1000–3rd century bce) suggests that inhospitable forces, whether contagious disease or climate, were at work. There was a considerable decrease in population and a regional fragmentation of cultural expression. Particularly noteworthy was the formation of quite distinct cultures in the north and south. The discovery of numerous small ritual implements, including pottery, suggests that the cultures developing in the north were rigidly structured and evinced considerable interest in ritual.

In the south, mobility and informality were the emerging characteristics of social organization and artistic expression. In distinction to the northern culture, the south seemed more affected by outside influences. Indeed, the incursions of continental culture would, in a few centuries, be based in the Kyushu area.