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MediaJapanese painters used a wide variety of media over the centuries. The only one you will not find until the late nineteenth century, is the Western media of the framed canvas. The mainstream media used by traditional Japanese painters were: - Horizontal scrolls called emakimono. The word means literally translated "image (e) of a rolled (maki) thing (mono)". Emakimono were created by pasting single sheets together to form a long roll. The images were viewed from right to left. Emakimono are among the oldest forms of paintings. Instead of emakimono you can find the words makimono or emaki. It means the same.- Vertical scrolls called kakemono. It is the "thing" that you hang on a wall. A kakemono is mounted on a roller on both ends. The roller on top has a string attached so that you can hang the scroll vertically. The roller on bottom is meant to straighten the image out by its weight. Vertical scrolls became popular during the Edo period. It comes closest to the Western framed canvas painting and was the ideal form of decorating a wall for the small Japanese houses. - Another painting media were folding screens, called byobu in Japanese. They had come from China to Japan in the 7th century and were used as room separators, mostly with 4 or 6 panels. Due to their sizes, the use was limited to temples and palaces. Screens became a major medium for lush and elaborate paintings. With the rise of the merchant class, the demand for screens moved to the rich towns people during the Edo period. The subjects on screens were similar to those on ukiyo-e (Japanese prints).- Sliding doors, called fusuma were another media for Japanese painting.During the Muromachi (1333-1573) and Momoyama period (1573-1603) powerful feudal lords built castles and commissioned painters to decorate interior walls with paintings. The Japanese term is shoheiga. - Also fans - uchiwa - were a popular medium to paint on. SubjectsJapanese paintings may evoke an association with landscapes and natural scenes drawn with a few genial brush strokes. The impression may come from the majority of the scroll paintings that are to be found in galleries and museums. But it is only a part of the story. Painting subjects were as diverse as we know it from Japanese prints. And of course each of the media used had its own preferred main focus. Some rather popular subjects were: shiki-e - Landscapes during the four seasons. meisho-e - Views of famous places. monogatari-e - Scenes from the life at the imperial court in Kyoto. nanban-byobu - Images of Westerners on screens from the time of the landing of Portuguese and Dutch ships in the Southern parts of Japan. rakuchu-rakugai-zu - Views from Kyoto. kabuki-e - Images from the kabuki theater. bijinga - Images of beautiful women, usually women from the pleasure quarters.
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