Japan

Shodo Harada Roshi, the abbot of Sogenji, a 17th century monastery in Okayama in Japan and international teacher of Rinzai Zen Buddhism, demonstrates his large scale calligraphy works.

An overview of the religious practices of the samurai.

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, which explores the lives of a diverse community in San Francisco’s Japantown in the aftermath of World War II. Gotanda, who teaches theater at UC Berkeley, appears in conversation with Michael Omi, associate professor of Asian American and Asian diaspora studies at UC Berkeley. To set the stage, local actors and musicians perform scenes from Gotanda’s plays. Warning: Contains explicit language.

The samurai was expected to embody good character and ethical conduct. Learn more about the “way of the warrior.”

Students will create their own books and stamps, and can inscribe poetry or good wishes on each others books. They will then take their books with them on a pilgrimage to the Asian Art Museum, the Japanese tea garden, or the beach, and record their impressions.

Woodblock printmaking was a complex process involving the collaboration of several people: publisher, artist, carver, and printer.

The Urami Waterfall in Niko, Picture of Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces, August, 1853, by Ando Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797 – 1858), Woodblock print; Ink and colors on paper, Gift of Japanese Prints from the Collection of Emmeline Johnson. Donated by Oliver and Elizabeth Johnson, 1994.48. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Storyteller, Ann Riley, tells a Japanese folktale about a mysterious teabowl with the use of artworks from the Asian Art Museum’s collection.

Trace the spread of Buddhism through close looking at Buddhist objects from different regions. Explore how artifacts reveal distinct local traditions as well as common ideas and motifs.