67-488: Manzai ( 漫才 ) is a traditional style of comedy in Japanese culture comparable to double act comedy. Manzai usually involves two performers ( manzaishi )—a straight man ( tsukkomi ) and a funny man ( boke )—trading jokes at great speed. Most of the jokes revolve around mutual misunderstandings, double-talk , puns and other verbal gags. In recent times, manzai has often been associated with
134-658: A colossal bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana in the Tōdai-ji temple. Wood has traditionally been used as the chief material in Japan, along with traditional Japanese architecture. Statues are often lacquered , gilded , or brightly painted, although there are commonly few traces of this on the surface. Bronze and other metals are generally not used. Other materials, such as stone and pottery , have had extremely important roles in traditional sculpture. The music of Japan includes
201-755: A combination of three scripts: Chinese characters pronounced as " kanji " ( 漢字 ) in Japanese, hiragana , and katakana . Japan had no writing system prior to adopting kanji from China in 751 CE, and like Chinese, kanji are used extensively in Japanese as logograms . Presently, there is a notable number of kanji in modern Japanese with a different meaning from the corresponding hanzi character used in modern Chinese. Modern Japanese also features far fewer simplified Chinese characters in comparison to modern Chinese as Japanese typically uses fewer kanji, mainly for nouns , adjective stems, and verb stems. Both hiragana and katakana are phonetic syllabaries derived from
268-659: A dual-structure model, in which Japanese populations are descendants of the indigenous Jōmon people and later arrivals of people from the East Eurasian continent, known as the Yayoi people . Japan's indigenous culture originates primarily from the Yayoi people who settled in Japan between 1000 BCE and 300 CE. Yayoi culture spread to the main island of Honshu , mixing with the native Jōmon culture. Modern Japanese have an estimated 80% Yayoi and 20% Jōmon ancestry. The second hypothesis proposes
335-534: A humorous character, had an older origin, in 8th century entertainment brought from China, developing itself in sarugaku . In kyōgen , masks are rarely used and even if the plays can be associated with the ones of noh, currently many are not. Kabuki appears in the beginning of the Edo period from the representations and dances of Izumo no Okuni in Kyoto. Due to concerns over the number of actresses engaged in selling sex,
402-424: A number of theories about the origins of Japanese, the strongest arguments for affiliation are with Korean on the basis of similar syntax. More controversially, it has also been paired with Altaic languages due to a similar number of systems and verb forms. While Japanese is the only official language of Japan, other languages such as Ainu and Ryukyuan are spoken on the Japanese islands. Written Japanese uses
469-519: A separate style in its own right as Japanese writers began writing their own works about Japan. The Tale of Genji , written by Murasaki Shikibu during the Heian period , is known worldwide as a unique Japanese literature. Since Japan reopened its ports to Western trading and diplomacy in the 19th century, Western and Eastern literature have strongly affected each other and continue to do so. Japanese calligraphy , rendered using flowing, brush-drawn strokes,
536-491: A tripartite model of genomic origin. This hypothesis proposes that contemporary Japanese people are from three distinct ancestral groups: Jōmon, Yayoi and Kofun , with 13%, 16% and 71% of genetic ancestry, respectively. During the Kofun period, it is said that migrant groups from China came to Japan and settled on the island, bringing with them various cultural advances and centralized leadership. The migrants who came to Japan during
603-403: A variety of colors, styles, and sizes. Men mainly wear darker or more muted colors, while women tend to wear brighter colors and pastels, and, especially for younger women, often with complicated abstract or floral patterns. In previous decades, married women wore short sleeved kimono, whereas unmarried women wore long sleeved kimono to both formal and informal occasions; however, the rise in both
670-467: A wide array of styles both distinctly traditional and modern . Traditional Japanese music is quite different from Western music and is based on the intervals of human breathing rather than mathematical timing; traditional music also typically slides between notes, a feature also not commonly found in Western music. The word for music in Japanese is ongaku (音楽), combining the kanji on (音, "sound") with
737-475: Is also used in a highly formalized manner to imitate "nature" and the expressive energy and artistic potential of noise are accepted and incorporated. Traditional Japanese music finds its first major historic periods in the Nara (710–794) and Heian (794–1185) periods. The two most common kinds of music during this time were the music of the court ( Gagaku ) and the music of Buddhist rituals ( shōmyō ). The music of
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#1732856020351804-408: Is an ethnic religion focusing on ceremonies and rituals. In Shinto, followers believe that kami – Shinto deities or spirits – are present throughout nature, including rocks, trees, and mountains. Humans can also be considered to possess a kami . One of the goals of Shinto is to maintain or strengthen the connection between humans, nature, and kami . The religion developed in Japan prior to
871-455: Is considered to be a traditional art form, as well as a means of conveying written information. Typical calligraphic works can consist of phrases, poems, stories, or even characters represented by themselves; the style and format of the calligraphy can mimic the subject matter through aspects such as the texture of the writing and the speed of the brush strokes. Several different styles of Japanese calligraphy exist, with considerable effort put into
938-406: Is considered to be one way for people to ensure a better future, with the ultimate goal of Buddhism being to escape the cycle of death and rebirth by attaining true insight. Christianity was introduced in the 16th century. When the religion was banned during the 17th century, a group of hidden Christians blended Christian theology with Shinto and Buddhist practices. Hidden Christian Sites in
1005-428: Is considered to hold the same importance as traditional building architecture, and both are influenced by similar historical and religious backgrounds. A primary design principle of a traditional garden is the creation of the landscape based on, or at least greatly influenced by, the style of three-dimensional monochrome ink ( sumi ) landscape painting known as sumi-e or suibokuga ; as such, garden landscaping
1072-521: Is elevated to the status of an artform in Japan. Traditional Japanese sculptures mainly focused on Buddhist images, such as Tathagata , Bodhisattva , and Myō-ō . The oldest sculpture in Japan is a wooden statue of Amitābha at the Zenkō-ji temple. In the Nara period, Buddhist statues were made by the national government to boost its prestige. These examples are seen in present-day Nara and Kyoto, most notably
1139-440: Is the art of painting a scene or object using diluted black ink. Painting has been an art in Japan for a very long time: the brush is a traditional writing and painting tool, and the extension of that to its use as an artist's tool was probably natural. Japanese painters are often categorized by what they painted, as most of them constrained themselves solely to subjects such as animals, landscapes, or figures. Chinese papermaking
1206-468: Is the national and primary language of Japan. The language is a lexically distinct pitch-accent system . Early Japanese is known primarily by its state in the 8th century when the three major works of Old Japanese were compiled. The earliest attestation of the Japanese language was found in a Chinese document from 256 CE. However, the Japanese language has no genetic relationship with Chinese, nor any clear affiliation with any other language. While there are
1273-477: The kosode ( ' short sleeve ' ), with longer-sleeved garments being known as furisode ( ' swinging sleeve ' ). The earliest versions of the kimono were heavily influenced by traditional Chinese clothing, known today as hanfu ( kanfuku ( 漢服 ) in Japanese). This influence was spread through Japanese envoy missions to China, resulting in extensive Chinese cultural adoption by Japan as early as
1340-530: The Akutagawa Prize . A mini-series adaptation was released on Netflix in 2016. Originally based around a festival to welcome the New Year , manzai traces its origins back to the Heian period . The two manzai performers came with messages from the kami and this was worked into a standup routine, with one performer showing some sort of opposition to the word of the other. This pattern still exists in
1407-578: The Government of Japan 's Agency for Culture Affairs, 66.7 percent of the population practices Buddhism , 25.6 percent practices Shintoism, 7.7 percent other religions. According to the annual statistical research on religion in 2018 by the Government of Japan 's Agency for Culture Affairs, about two million or around 1.5% of Japan's population are Christians . Other religions include Islam (70,000) and Judaism (2,000), which are largely immigrant communities with some ethnic Japanese practitioners. Shinto
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#17328560203511474-559: The Muromachi period and ceramics since the Edo period . Japanese crafts became known in Europe after Nanban trade . Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. It has gained widespread international fame for its focus on harmony, color use, rhythm, and elegantly simple design. It is an art centered greatly on expressing the seasons and is meant to act as a symbol to something greater than
1541-570: The Osaka region, and manzai comedians often speak in the Kansai dialect during their acts. In 1933, Yoshimoto Kogyo , a large entertainment conglomerate based in Osaka, introduced Osaka-style manzai to Tokyo audiences and coined the term " 漫才 " (one of several ways of writing the word manzai in Japanese; see § Etymology below). In 2015, Matayoshi Naoki's manzai novel, Spark ( 火花 ) , won
1608-492: The Tang dynasty , and to a lesser extent by other Asian countries . For example, one of the scripts for writing in the Japanese language is Chinese characters ( kanji ), but Japanese has no genetic relationship with Chinese . Since the Meiji era , Japan has been primarily influenced by Western countries . The inhabitants of Japan experienced a long period of relative isolation from
1675-410: The Tang dynasty , have influenced Japanese culture throughout history. After 220 years of isolation, the Meiji era opened Japan to Western influences, enriching and diversifying Japanese culture. Popular culture shows how much contemporary Japanese culture influences the world. There are two competing hypotheses that try to explain the lineage of the Japanese people. The first hypothesis proposes
1742-595: The Western world over the past few centuries has led to many of its terms, such as origami , tsunami , karaoke , and pop cultural terms like shonen and shōjo being incorporated into the English language. Words like these have also been added to the Oxford English Dictionary . Shinto and Buddhism are the primary religions of Japan. According to the annual statistical research on religion in 2018 by
1809-413: The shamisen and used in kabuki theater), uki-ma implies a slight lengthening of the first of a pair of beats, while tsume-ma implies the reverse. It is this meaning of timing that is seen as a unique aesthetic to explain otherwise inexplicable aspects of Japanese performing arts. Japanese music stresses sound quality and prizes the richness and complexity of each instrument's sound spectrum. Noise
1876-446: The 20th-21st centuries include Yoko Ono , Suzuka Nakamoto , Koji Tamaki , Hideto Takarai , Takahiro Moriuchi , Kenshi Yonezu , and Haruomi Hosono . Popular groups of the same eras include The Oral Cigarettes , Yoasobi , Bump of Chicken , King Gnu , Mrs. Green Apple , Fishmans , and Perfume . The four traditional theatres from Japan are noh (or nō ), kyōgen , kabuki , and bunraku . Noh had its origins in
1943-529: The 5th century CE. It was during the 8th century, however, that Chinese fashions came fully into style, and following the cancellation of the 20th mission to Tang dynasty China, these fashions developed independently, with the overlapping, V-shaped collar becoming women's fashion and the precursor to the modern kimono. Kimono, alongside all other items of traditional Japanese clothing, are known collectively as wafuku , meaning 'Japanese clothing', as opposed to yōfuku , Western-style clothing. Kimono come in
2010-586: The 6th century CE, after which point followers built shrines to worship kami . Buddhism developed in India around the 6th and 4th centuries BCE and eventually spread through the Sinosphere and South East Asia. It arrived in Japan during the 6th century CE, where it was initially unpopular. Most Japanese people were unable to understand the difficult philosophical messages present in Buddhism; however, an appreciation for
2077-584: The Chinese man'yōgana of the 5th century. Hiragana and katakana were developed from simplified kanji; hiragana emerged somewhere around the 9th century and were mainly used by women for informal language while katakana was mainly used by men in formal language. By the 10th century, both systems were used commonly by everyone. Japanese vocabulary consists of 49% words of Chinese origin , 33% words of Japanese origin , and 18% loanwords from other languages, including European languages , words of mixed origin, and
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2144-526: The Kofun period appear to have had ancestry that mainly resembles the ancestry of the Han Chinese population of China. The Jomon people were hunter-gathers ; the Yayoi people introduced rice cultivation; and the Kofun migrants introduced imperial state formation. Japanese culture was influenced from ancient times to the Middle Ages primarily by multiple Chinese dynasties , with substantial derivation from
2211-739: The Nagasaki Region have become World Heritage Sites , and the unique style of Christian art is now recognized. Despite being a minority religion in Japan, Christian chapel marriage ceremonies are a popular wedding style in Japan. A minority of Japanese are Muslims. Cultural differences and a predominantly non-Muslim society present unique challenges for Japan's Muslim community, mostly immigrants from Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran. Muslims are scattered in Japan. Mosques and halal food are scarce due to their dispersion. Family-linked long-term residents are assimilating into Japanese society despite language and cultural barriers. Analysts say
2278-555: The Nara period can be classified as belonging to the first international period in Japanese music history. The court music was all of Chinese, Korean, or Indian origin and was played primarily by foreign musicians in its original style. Gagaku classical music has been performed at the Imperial court since the Heian period . At the same time, Buddhist ritual music exerted some influence on the native vocal style. While poetry anthologies indicate that folk music had continued its steady pace,
2345-483: The authors' assumptions or perceptions of Japanese exceptionalism; these are predominantly written in Japan by Japanese people, though examples have also been written by foreign residents, journalists and even scholars. Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature , often written in Classical Chinese . Eventually, Japanese literature developed into
2412-423: The average age of marriage and the numbers of women never marrying in Japan has led to the divide between sleeve length becoming one more of age, with most women in their early twenties wearing long sleeved kimono only to formal occasions, and most women past their early twenties wearing short sleeved kimono to formal events, regardless of marriage status. Other developments include the abandoning of layered kimono and
2479-428: The base of the shoe to the floor, and are worn by men and women with kimono or yukata ; zōri are flat-based or sloping sandals made of a number of different materials, and are considered to be more formal than geta. Fashion trends and consumer apathy have hurt the Japanese kimono industry. Kimono sales and traditional tailors suffered after WWII due to Western fashion. Innovative and diverse kimono makers have revived
2546-460: The character, 万 , and the simpler form 才 for 歳 (which also can be used to write a word meaning "talent, ability"). The arrival of Osaka manzai brought another character change, this time changing the first character to 漫 . Similar in execution to the concepts of "funny man" and " straight man " in double act comedy (e.g. Abbott and Costello ), these roles are a very important characteristic of manzai . Boke ( ボケ ) comes from
2613-437: The coats would be constructed from several layers of heavy cotton stitched together, and would be soaked in water to provide protection from fire. Alongside traditional clothing, Japan also has distinct footwear; tabi , ankle-length split-toed socks, are commonly worn with the kimono, and are designed to be worn with traditional shoes such as geta and zōri . Geta are thonged sandals mounted on wooden blocks extending from
2680-412: The comedy act closer to a conte rather than manzai . The tradition of tsukkomi and boke is often used in other Japanese comedy , although it may not be as obviously portrayed as it usually is in manzai . The most funniest manzai duos, according to a web survey by The Asahi Shimbun in 2012 (excerpt): Japanese culture The culture of Japan has changed greatly over
2747-849: The declining industry. Internationally, the industry has tried casual styles. Cultural appropriation is hard. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts' "Kimono Wednesdays" led to cultural appropriation debates. Asian-American protesters cited Orientalism, racism, and cultural appropriation. Protests sparked global cultural debate and appropriation. The protests lacked Japanese and Japanese-American representation, say critics. Scholars say Edward Said's "Orientalism" may not always apply (O'Dwyer, 2015). Cultural appropriation could harm kimono exhibitions. War can hinder cultural exchange and Japanese fashion abroad. Japanese mainstream media and cultural commentators rarely mention it. Cultural appropriation may lead to kimono experimentation, say Japanese commentators. Cultural appropriation and Japanese fashion remain hot topics. Globally,
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2814-596: The eighteenth century, in secular performances, the shamisen lute and koto , invented in China and brought to Japan during the Nara Period , 13-string zither as used for genteel entertainment and professionally controlled by blind musicians who had the rights to heike narrative. The shamisen , modified from the Chinese sanxian introduced via the Ryukyu Islands in the late sixteenth century, came into its own in
2881-475: The floating world', is a genre of woodblock prints that exemplifies the characteristics of pre-Meiji Japanese art. Because these prints could be mass-produced, they were available to a wide cross-section of the Japanese populace – those not wealthy enough to afford original paintings – during their heyday, from the 17th to 20th century. Japanese lacquerware and ceramics have historically gained international fame, and lacquerware has been actively exported since
2948-416: The flower itself. The kimono is the national garment of Japan, having developed from Chinese court clothing in the Nara period following the exchange of diplomatic envoys between the two countries at that time. The word kimono translates literally as 'thing to wear on the shoulders'; however, this term developed some time around the Edo period, before which most kimono-like garments were referred to as
3015-506: The head with a swift smack; one traditional manzai prop often used for this purpose is a pleated paper fan called a harisen ( 張り扇 ) . Another traditional manzai prop is a small drum, usually carried (and used) by the boke . A Japanese bamboo and paper umbrella is another common prop. These props are usually used only during non-serious manzai routines as traditional manzai requires there to be no props in terms of routine and in competitions. The use of props would put
3082-581: The historical records and relics show us music that was primarily instrumental and often connected with dance. By the time of the Kamakura period, most traces of the international character of Japanese music had disappeared. Court music in general was declining, while there was a steady growth of more theatrical arts. The indigenous folk ritual music of flute and drums here encountered the aristocratic aesthetic of poetry and literary tales. Japan's indigenous musical culture can still be found in much of folk music and
3149-697: The industry must balance cultural integrity and innovation (O'Dwyer, 2015). Japanese architecture was originally heavily influenced by Chinese architecture and later developed many unique aspects indigenous to Japan. Examples of traditional architecture are seen at temples , Shinto shrines , and castles in Kyoto and Nara . Some of these buildings are constructed with traditional gardens , which are influenced by Zen ideas. Some modern architects, such as Yoshio Taniguchi and Tadao Ando are known for their amalgamation of Japanese traditional and Western architectural influences. Traditional Japanese garden architecture
3216-427: The kanji gaku (楽, "enjoyment"). Major aesthetic concepts are jo-ha-kyū and ma . Jo-ha-kyū (序破急) roughly translates to "beginning, break, rapid", it essentially means that all actions or efforts should begin slowly, speed up, and then end swiftly. Ma literally means a space or interval between two points (in space or time). In music, it refers to rhythm. In nagauta (長唄, literally "long song") (played on
3283-404: The made-in-Japan pseudo-English known as wasei-eigo . The Latin alphabet is often used in modern Japanese, especially for company names, logos, advertising, and when inputting Japanese into a computer. The Hindu–Arabic numerals are often used for numbers and can be read in either Japanese or English, but traditional Sino–Japanese numerals are also common. The influence of Japanese culture in
3350-504: The millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period , to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Since the Jomon period, ancestral groups like the Yayoi and Kofun, who arrived to Japan from Korea and China, respectively, have shaped Japanese culture. Rice cultivation and centralized leadership were introduced by these groups, shaping Japanese culture. Chinese dynasties, particularly
3417-445: The music of Shinto festivals in local communities. Several traditional instruments were adopted and assimilated into Japanese culture from various sources. They were further experimented with and developed by Japan. One of the imported end-blown bamboo flutes from China developed into the shakuhachi , which became the ritual instrument of the Fuke sect of Zen monks. By the middle of
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#17328560203513484-424: The outcome; in some cases, it can take over one hundred attempts to produce the desired result of a single character. This form of calligraphy is known as shodō ( 書道 ) , literally meaning 'the way of writing or calligraphy', or more commonly, shūji ( 習字 ) , 'learning how to write characters'. Commonly confused with calligraphy is the art form of sumi-e ( 墨絵 ) , literally meaning 'ink painting', which
3551-563: The outside world for over 220 years during the Tokugawa shogunate until the arrival of the " Black Ships " and the Meiji era. Today, the culture of Japan stands as one of the most influential cultures around the world, mainly because of the global reach of its popular culture . In 2023, U.S. News & World Report ranked Japan's cultural influence as the highest in Asia and 4th worldwide. Japanese
3618-456: The participation of women in the plays was forbidden by the government in 1629, and the feminine characters had passed to be represented only by men ( onnagata ). Recent attempts to reintroduce actresses in kabuki had not been well accepted. Another characteristic of kabuki is the use of makeup for the actors in historical plays ( kumadori ) and the performance of nagauta ballads. Japanese puppet theater ( bunraku ) developed in
3685-405: The process become Japanized (domesticated) and different from its model. Hybrid music has resulted, such as enka , J-pop , and ‘contemporary Japanese music’ ( gendai hōgaku ) or ‘new Japanese music’ ( shin-hōgaku ). Famous enka singers include Hibari Misora , Saburo Kitajima , Ikuzo Yoshi , and Haruo Minami. One notable contemporary influence on Japanese musical music came from Ainu music and
3752-439: The religion's art is believed to have led to Buddhism later growing in popularity. Buddhism is concerned with the cycle of rebirth and karma . In Buddhism, a person's status in society is considered unimportant, instead their good or bad deeds are valued, as every person eventually becomes ill, ages, dies, and is eventually reincarnated into a new life, a cycle known as saṃsāra ; the suffering people experience during life
3819-469: The roles of the boke and the tsukkomi . Continuing into the Edo period , the style focused increasingly on the humor aspects of stand-up, and various regions of Japan developed their own unique styles of manzai , such as Owari manzai ( 尾張万歳 ) , Mikawa manzai ( 三河万歳 ) , and Yamato manzai ( 大和万歳 ) . With the arrival of the Meiji period , Osaka manzai ( 大阪万才 ) began to implement changes that would see it surpass in popularity
3886-523: The same period as kabuki, in both competition with and collaboration with its actors and authors. The origin of bunraku , however, is older, beginning in the Heian period. In 1914, the Takarazuka Revue was founded, a company solely composed by women who introduced the revue to Japan. Harisen The harisen ( ハリセン /張り扇 , meaning "slapping fan") is a giant paper fan , usually made in
3953-466: The small Muslim community and cultural differences between Islam and Japan reduce future conflicts. Syncretic Sufi Islam may increase Japan's Muslim population. The Japanese "national character" has been written about under the term Nihonjinron , literally meaning 'theories/discussions about the Japanese people' and referring to texts on matters that are normally the concerns of sociology, psychology, history, linguistics, and philosophy, but emphasizing
4020-598: The so-called nationalist composer Ifukube Akiraa (b. 1914 in Hokkaido) who brought the tonkori zither onto the World Music scene. In the late 20th century Japanese music rose in popularity with Aidoru (Japanese Idols) with popular audition shows such as the Suta¯tanjo¯(A Star Is Born). Japanese music further evolved in the jazz, pop, R&B, and Rock music genres and continues into today. Popular artists of
4087-595: The standardisation of the length of short sleeved women's kimono to a range of roughly 49–52 centimetres (19–20 in) in length, both developments driven by fabric shortages in WWII. The happi coat is another form of traditional clothing. A happi (commonly Anglicised as "happy") coat is a straight sleeved coat typically decorated with a family crest and/or kanji along the collar. In previous centuries, happi -style coats known as hikeshi sashiko banten or simply hikeshi banten were commonly worn by firefighters ;
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#17328560203514154-488: The styles of the former period, although at the time rakugo was still considered the more popular form of entertainment. With the end of the Taishō period , Yoshimoto Kōgyō —which itself was founded at the beginning of the era, in 1912—introduced a new style of manzai lacking much of the celebration that had accompanied it in the past. This new style proved successful and spread all over Japan, including Tokyo. Riding on
4221-465: The theatrical contexts of bunraku puppet drama and kabuki drama. Japan is the second largest music market in the world behind the United States, and is the largest in Asia, with most of the market dominated by Japanese artists . Local music often appears at karaoke venues on lease from record labels . Western music has been adopted and adapted to the Japanese context and has often in
4288-419: The union of the sarugaku , with music and dance made by Kan'ami and Zeami Motokiyo . Among the characteristic aspects of it are the masks, costumes, and the stylized gestures, sometimes accompanied by a fan that can represent other objects. The Noh programs are presented in alternation with the ones of kyōgen , traditionally in numbers of five, but currently in groups of three. The kyōgen , of
4355-406: The verb bokeru ( 惚ける/呆ける ) which carries the meaning of "senility" or "air headed-ness" and is reflected in the boke 's tendency for misinterpretation and forgetfulness. The word tsukkomi ( 突っ込み ) refers to the role the second comedian plays in "butting in" and correcting the boke 's errors. In performances it is common for the tsukkomi to berate the boke and hit them on
4422-409: The waves of new communication technology, manzai quickly spread through the mediums of stage , radio , and eventually, television , and video games . The kanji for manzai have been written in various ways throughout the ages. It was originally written as lit. " ten thousand years " or banzai , meaning something like "long life" ( 萬歳 ) , using 萬 rather than the alternative form of
4489-665: Was introduced to Japan around the 7th century. Later, washi was developed from it. Native Japanese painting techniques are still in use today, as well as techniques adopted from continental Asia and from the West. Schools of painting such as the Kano school of the 16th century became known for their bold brush strokes and contrast between light and dark, especially after Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu began to use this style. Famous Japanese painters include Kanō Sanraku , Maruyama Ōkyo , and Tani Bunchō . Ukiyo-e , literally means 'pictures of
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