What is it about japanese/chinese culture??? I could just stare at japanese paintings all day!

zenmyste

Paintings, calenders, journals, curtains, anything japanese or chinese is amazing!

Especially painings of ancient zen monks and lay people, just sitting, or working, or walking, and the scenery in the back ground is so peaceful to look at! The mountains and temples - i could just 'sit' and look at them all day!

(As if its telling me a 'story' about how to live' )
Its as if they knew something we dont!

(At least thats how i see their culture - the ancient culture at least)

Jeffrey

I took a Chinese culture course and an Art History East/West and the forms in their art were quite beautiful. I like Buddhism the most, but Taoist and Confucious are also very interesting.

Tosh

zenmyste said:

anything japanese or chinese is amazing!

Being half Japanese on my Mother's side, I've gotta agree. I am pretty amazing! Humble too!



My Japanese grandfather was like Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid - an ex WW2 Japanese soldier who fought the Chinese and the Russians and ended up in a Russian PoW camp and held there for five years after the war. He was like this skinny wise craftsman who spent almost every waking minute carving Noh masks; they were extremely ornate and beautiful; real works of art.

I've got a few of them:

Takuan

Have you done any research into the influence of Buddhism on Chinese and Japanese language? It's rather interesting.

Lately, I've been obsessed with Japanese death poems. It's an interesting art form.

genkaku

I always liked what I thought was the respect shown for -- the integral importance of -- the space and light around the objects in Chinese and Japanese art.

BhikkhuJayasara

I love Chinese cultures.. but pretty much 90% of art from near any culture is extremely boring to me. I think the major exception may be wall art and the like from ancient cultures.

also.. doesn't this belong more in general banter?

footiam

I like Chinese painting, especially the simplest ones using black ink like Bada Shanren's pieces. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bada_Shanren They just need a few simple strokes but I don't think it is easy to draw them. Some Chinese paintings do not only have a big empty space but the man in the painting could appear very small compared to the surrounding mountain or trees. That's to denotes the magnitude of nature. Nature rules!

Deepankar

Awesome culture of all and glorifying. Every culture is so beautiful if you would to truly and blissfully enjoy and embrace their uniqueness. Sort of like in normal appreciative value, you dont expect a male to don bra and female to pee with two leg standing upright lol

Zero

Tosh said:

Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid - an ex WW2 Japanese soldier who fought the Chinese and the Russians and ended up in a Russian PoW camp...

Mr Miyagi was a Japanese man fighting for the Americans - his uniform was that of the allies - which I always thought was a bit of a kick in the teeth as while he was doing that, his fellow Japanese-Americans were being rounded up and put into internment camps - charming.

BonsaiDoug

zenmyste said:

Paintings, calenders, journals, curtains, anything japanese or chinese is amazing!

Especially painings of ancient zen monks and lay people, just sitting, or working, or walking, and the scenery in the back ground is so peaceful to look at! The mountains and temples - i could just 'sit' and look at them all day!

(As if its telling me a 'story' about how to live' )
Its as if they knew something we dont!

(At least thats how i see their culture - the ancient culture at least)

Perhaps the pull of a previous life?

sndymorn

Hokusai is the man. Wonderful Japanese painter and a prodigy.