A Brief History of Samurai Armor
Learn about samurai armor by exploring artworks in the Asian Art Museum's collection.
Learn about samurai armor by exploring artworks in the Asian Art Museum's collection.
A guardian king, Heian period (794–1185), approx. 900–1000. Japan. Wood. The Avery Brundage Collection, B67S1.
Andrea Horbinski of the UC Berkeley History–Social Science Project, gives a talk to teachers at the Japan Teacher Institute at the Asian Art Museum on Japanese history, folktales, anime, and more.
A True Picture of the Steamship Powhatan; A Ship Generally Called a Steam Frigate..., from the Black Ship Scroll, Edo period (1615-1868); approx. 1854. Japan. Handscroll segment mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and colors on paper. Museum purchase with assistance from the Japan Society of Northern California, 2012.60.2.
Abbreviated Map of All the World's Nations, approx. 1800-1850. Japan. Woodblock print; ink on paper. Gift to honor the Reverend Hodo Tobase, 2010.452.
Warning: Contains explicit language. Join influential playwright Philip Kan Gotanda to get the inside scoop on the ideas and inspirations behind his groundbreaking body of work, including his play, After the War Blues.
Asian Art Museum Storyteller, Liz Nichols, tells a Japanese story about Amaterasu, the sun goddess, in the museum's Japan galleries.
America: Depiction of an American Ship and Portraits of the First Ambassador Perry and the Deputy Ambassador Adams, by, Shinsei (Japanese, 1850's), 1854. Ink and colors on paper. Bequest of Marshall Dill, F2001.23.1.
America: Van Reed (Amerika koku, Uen riito) from Picture of the Residence of a Foreign Merchant in Yokohama (Yokohama torai isho juka no zu), by Hashimoto Sadahide (Japanese (1807-1873)), 1861. Ink and colors on paper. Fred M. and Nancy Livingston Levin, The Shenson Foundation in memory of Ben and A. Jess Shenson, 2006.7.
Japanese artist Tanabe Chikuunsai IV pushes the boundaries of bamboo art. He dramatically breaks the scale that we expect of the medium with soaring, twisting forms that stretch from floor to ceiling. His dramatic, immersive environments evoke the bamboo forests where these works began their lives.
Buddhism has deeply influenced the character and evolution of Asian civilization over the past 2,500 years. It is based on the teachings of a historical figure, Siddhartha Gautama, who lived around the fifth century BCE. As it moved across Asia, Buddhism absorbed indigenous beliefs and incorporated a wide range of imagery, both local and foreign, into its art and religious practices. Buddhism continues to evolve as a religion in many parts of the world.
Buddhism was officially transmitted to Japan in 525, when the monarch of the Korean kingdom of Baekje sent a mission to Japan with gifts, including an image of the Buddha, several ritual objects, and sacred texts. Buddhism's journey from India to China, Korea, and Japan had taken about a thousand years.
Professor Robert Sharf, University of California, Berkeley, discusses Japanese Buddhism at the Medieval Japan Teacher Institute at the Asian Art Museum.
The first geisha were male entertainers, serving guests with music, lighthearted conversation, and comical play. The first female geisha appeared around 1750. They quickly outnumbered their male counterparts, and by 1780 the word geisha was mainly applied to women...
Kabuki was one of the three most popular dramatic forms of Japan, the other two being Noh drama and puppet theater (bunraku)...
Part of a long archipelago off the eastern rim of the Asian continent, the island country of Japan has four main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Learn more.
An overview of the Japanese warrior class known as the samurai.
Explore Nara's ancient Buddhist art and architecture.
Explore images and stories of animals from across Asia. This selection of resources support the Animal Tales storytelling school program at the Asian Art Museum.
Mari L'Esperance reads a poem she wrote in response to seven paintings by Fuyuko Matsui in the exhibition Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past (on view at the Asian Art Museum from May 18–September 2, 2012). This presentation was part of MATCHA. Co-presented by Litquake.
Archery practice, by Shibayama Hirotoyo (1673–1723). Japan. Edo period (1615–1868). Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk. The Avery Brundage Collecton, B65D2.
Arrival of a Portuguese ship, one of a pair (Nanban screens), Six panel folding screen, 1620-1640. Japan. Ink, colors, and gold on paper, The Avery Brundage Collection, B60D77+.
Students gain an appreciation and understanding of art and culture, and build language skills by reading; developing scripts; making choices about gesture, voice, and expression; and performing traditional stories alongside art objects in the Asian Art Museum’s collection galleries.
Learn about the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849).
Learn about the Japanese artist Utagawa (Ando) Hiroshige (1797–1858).
Prior to the Edo period (1615–1868), many painters and sculptors remained anonymous, occupying relatively equal status to carpenters and other artisans. The position of the artist during the Edo period changed, as artists became more successful financially, and better educated. Some of them began to be seen as celebrities, arbiters of taste with eccentric personalities. Although many still worked for low wages in obscurity, the Edo period marks the emergence of the artist as individual, as the genius creator in Japan. Learn more.
In this lecture series, Mary-Ann Milford of Mills College and Lewis Lancaster of UC Berkeley discuss the arts of Japan.
Learn more about the arts of Korea and Japan through lectures by renowned scholars.
The Islamic world is and always has been more diverse and complex than most outsiders have thought...
This lecture series, organized by the Society for Asian Art, explores narrative using Asian art—how myths, legends, histories and moral precepts have been transmitted through visual means. Topics range from sculptural reliefs and murals used to educate pilgrims at famous religious sites to works created primarily for entertainment. Contemporary storytelling is also addressed via lectures on Bollywood and manga produced by San Francisco's Henry Yoshitaka Kiama.
Use these images to faciliate Visual Thinking Strategies conversations with your students. This selection of images are part of the San Francisco VTS image set for grades 3-5.
This lecture series examines the origins of traditions and how traditions are renewed, appropriated, and transformed over time.
Artist Ayomi Yoshida discusses her installation, Yedoensis . . .
This scene illustrates an episode from the chapter, “The End of the Life of Kiso Yoshinaka,” in The Tale of the Heike, a thirteenth-century recounting of the wars between two powerful clans, the Heike and the Genji (also called the Taira and the Minamoto). By the time this painting was made, important episodes from The Tale of the Heike such as this one were widely familiar and had become popular subjects for paintings.
Battles at Ichi-no-tani Mountain and Yashima, from Tale of the Heike, approx. 1650–1700. Japan. Edo period (1615–1868). Six-panel screen, ink and colors on gold. The Avery Brundage Collection, B63D8+.
Beauty under the cherries at Ryodaishi Hall, probably Ando Hiroshige III (Japanese, 1843-1894), approx. 1870-1894. Hanging scroll; ink and colors on paper. Gift of Jim Myers, 2006.36.
In all lacquer objects, regardless of when they were produced, a resinous sap coating preserves the core material and allows for decoration. The material for lacquering is extracted from lacquer trees (Toxicodendron vernicifluum; formerly Rhus verniciflua), which is the same genus as poison oak. Learn more in this award winning documentary on Japanese lacquer.
In all lacquer objects, regardless of when they were produced, a resinous sap coating preserves the core material and allows for decoration. The material for lacquering is extracted from lacquer trees (Toxicodendron vernicifluum; formerly Rhus verniciflua), which is the same genus as poison oak. Learn more in this award winning documentary on Japanese lacquer.
Boy's long-sleeved kimono, approx. 1868–1912. Cotton with freehand resist-dyed decoration. Japan. Gift of Gloria Granz Gonick, F2004.23.45
Learn about Kofukuji temple and the hollow dry lacquer sculptures in the Asian Art Museum's Collection that were found there.
Create your own brush-painted masterpiece.
This video documents the Asian Art Museum's Nature in Art school program.
This selection of resources introduces students to the vocabulary, techniques, and values of East Asian ink painting. Lessons and background information compliment the Brushpainting: Nature in Art school program at the Asian Art Museum.
In addition to superior strategic and military ability, most elite samurai were expected to be versed in the cultural arts. The warrior’s ideal balance of military and artistic skill is captured well in this description of the sixteenth century daimyo Hosokawa Yusai (1534–1610): “Renowned for his elegant pursuits, he is a complete man combining arts [bun] and arms [bu] . . .” Learn more.
Introduce your students to the life and teachings of the Buddha and trace the spread of Buddhism through Asia.
Buddhist bell, by Tachibana Kyubei, 1532. Japan. Bronze. Transfer from the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. Gift of William Goodman, B84B2.
Thanks to the Society for Asian Art's renowned Arts of Asia lecture series, speakers from the Bay Area and across the country will transport you across Asia by land and by sea.
Asian Art Museum Storyteller, Leta Bushyhead, tells a new year story about Jizo, a deity whose statues are a common sight throughout Japan, especially by roadsides. Traditionally, he is seen as the guardian of children.
The Japanese phrase Chanoyu, translated literally as “hot water for tea,” refers to the tradition of preparing and serving powdered green tea in a highly stylized manner. Learn more about this tradition.
To teach a responsibility for self-advocacy while celebrating diversity, students will generate ideas about what will make their lives better, will create placards based on their ideas, and share their ideas in a "protest" march.
A step-by-step guide to creating circular plaits, used for the base of bamboo baskets with master bamboo artist Shosei Fujitsuka.
Students will view representations of literary epics, read related excerpts, and discuss how those scenes exemplify the code of the samurai.
Laura Allen, Curator of Japanese Art at the Asian Art Museum discusses a monochrome woodblock print of a courtesan playing with a cat.
Courtesan punting Daruma from China to Japan on reed leaves, by Okumura Masanobu (Japanese (1686-1764)), 1706- 1764. Japan. Woodblock print; ink and colors on paper. Gift of the Grabhorn Ukiyo-e Collection, 2005.100.8.
Socially, economically, and artistically, a pleasure quarter formed its own culture in which courtesans were distinguished from ordinary prostitutes and elevated to the level of icons of
femininity...
Scholars Melinda Takeuchi and Timon Screech discuss a woodblock print of courtesans in an unlicensed pleasure quarter during the Edo period (1615–1868) in Japan.
Crane standing near succulent plants, one of a set of six paintings, in the style of Ito Jakuchu (Japanese), approx, 1775–1850. Ink on paper. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60D144 (r), B60D143 (l).
Students will be able to identify, compare and contrast images of traditional Japanese woodblock prints. They will then create their own simulated woodblock prints.
Students will: 1.) create a pocket size version of kamishibai and illustrate a Japanese folktale; 2.) learn the history of kamishibai; 3.) use oral, written, and visual language in presenting Japanese folktales; 4.) discuss the similarities and differences in American and Japanese storytelling traditions; 4.) gain an awareness of Japanese culture and Japanese society in early to mid-20th century.