Resources

Watch a Lunar New Year story about a beast named Nian.

Students will use images of samurai armor and weaponry to learn related vocabulary. They will describe the functional and aesthetic aspects of armor through focused viewing and reading, and they will draw conclusions about the changing code of the samurai over the course of 800 years.

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry made of three lines (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) that is commonly a meditation on nature. Make an image using colorful paper and ink, and then write a haiku inspired by your creation.

Camel, approx. 690–750. China, Shaanxi or Henan province. Tang dynasty (618–906). Glazed earthenware. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60S95.

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.

Learn about the Japanese artist Utagawa (Ando) Hiroshige (1797–1858).

Learn about the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849).

Archery practice, by Shibayama Hirotoyo (1673–1723). Japan. Edo period (1615–1868). Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk. The Avery Brundage Collecton, B65D2.

Buddhism was officially transmitted to Japan in 552, 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.

The earliest surviving representations of the Buddha date from hundreds of years after his death, so they are not portraits in the usual sense. Buddha images vary greatly from place to place and period to period, but they almost always show these conventional features . . .