Argument

Argument Although the word ¡°ukiyo¡± in pre-modern Japan originally contained the Buddhist sense of ¡°transience and suffering of this world,¡± in the Tokugawa period (1603-1867) it took on a new set of connotations as a ¡°floating world¡± of pleasures as well as sorrows (contrary to our American perspective about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the pre-modern worldview was never free from sorrow). Using three primary texts, explore what the ¡°floating world¡± means and how it plays out in the texts you choose to discuss. You may consider its role in noh, puppet theater, kabuki and/or haikai poetics (Chushingura, 1971). In Japanese history, during Buddha time the word ukiyo had a Buddhist approach and it considered human endeavors in the world. Nonetheless the word developed a different meaning in the Tokugawa period. During this time Ukiyo it was used to mean floating world and had roles in Kaibuki, noh puppet theater and or haikai poetics. The word originated from the metropolitan culture of Edo in Tokyo during the period of political and military power that was in the hands of the shoguns while the country was virtually isolated from the rest of the world. It is an art closely connected with the pleasures of theatres, restaurants, teahouses, geisha and courtesans. Many ukiyo-e prints by artists like Utamaro and Sharaku were in fact posters, advertising theatre performances and brothels, or idol portraits of popular actors and beautiful teahouse girls. But this more or less sophisticated world of urban pleasures was also animated by the traditional Japanese deep liking of nature and enormous impact on landscape painting all over the world. Tremendous developments have taken place during the floatation period. These progresses are evident in Japanese cultural developments that the populace has made in many areas of life. Indicators of these advances are traced in artistic developments which have enabled man to document periods and other important times and areas of life. The floating world is a translation of Japanese word and period called Ukiyo. In the Japanese culture, the word was used to refer to tremendous developments that came along with urbanization. The ‘floating world’ is a marked period due to the progresses that were experienced in the cultures of Japan. For instance, the word Ukiyo in premodern times has been used to classify two periods in the history of Japan. This era comprises of the Edo period which was experienced between 1620s and 1867 when a new era of Meiji began and lasted until 1912. In Japan, calm which was experienced during this time necessitated major progressive developments that took place in between 1620 and 1867. The Edo period was succeeded with Meiji, a new era that opened up Japan to the west. However, at the time of Budhha, the word Ukiyo was deceptively used to mean the ‘Sorrowful World’ that entailed sacrifice and suffering in order to achieve (Chushingura, 1971). A major contributor to the floatation era is embedded in urbanization, a time of development that took place during the 16th century. It is at Ukiyo, that merchants and artisans established literary use of writing illustrations and painting of pictures and theatricals as a means of communication. Ukiyo was mostly applied in urban narrations to depict culture while it also helped to provide guidebooks. This in turn necessitated commercial set ups in order to make available these teachings. The use of these illustrations through polychrome paintings resulted to the rising into fame of Hishikawa Monorobu in 1670s. The luminous and sensationally appealing artwork of the ukiyo-e woodblock feature is certainly the most recorded Japanese arts articles ever. These meticulous styles of art flourished in Japan as early as the seventeenth to nineteenth century. Initially during Buddha, the word Ukiyo-e was applied as a connotation of ‘sad world’. However, at the advent of the seventeenth century, the reference reversed to mean "floating world." The "world" was one of passing delights and liberties derived from the care and concern of the world. Every printed illustration and paintings that merchants bespoke and bought always depicted concepts of a carefree existence. Hence they were called ukiyo-e: "articles of the floating world" (Yamashita, 1996). In order for us to offer respect and accord respect for these works of art, we must understand the initial objectives of the ukiyo-e. We also need to at least to grasp those facets of it that the artist habitually depicted. These facets are found in theatre, time and life spent in the social circles and voyages covered. Fundamentally, the pursuit of Ukioy-e reveals a lot regarding the history of Japan. During the Edo period many feudal wars that had been fought in Japan due rivalry came to an end when the country unified. Since the traditional arts underwent a new beginning. Every military arm including the samurai started to revamp their castles that before then were threatening strongholds. Varied artists who could paint and sculpt were employed to adorn the sliding doors. Roof ceilings and wood panels also received attention while weavers and seamstresses were asked to make beautiful clothes. Due to the resorts by the powerful samurai to make life for themselves as lavish as possible, this period revitalized every sort of art craft ability in the common Japanese hence providing employment opportunity (Yamashita, 1996). Floatation period also experienced an uprising among the great merchant families from the towns of Kyoto and Sakai who surged forward to ask for better living standards. Previously these groups had furnished the samurai with economic support to purchase guns and ammunition. Since this group came from lowly social backgrounds, this populace did not harbor ambitions of social interaction with the high class populations. Nonetheless, they chose to undertake art works that depicted beautiful courtesans besides going to traditional Kubuki dances. They also read renowned books with rich narrations that had been illustrated by hand. Eventually, picture books were printed as a result of the majority of citizens preferring these illustrated printouts from wood carvings (Chushingura, 1971). Despite the existence of wood blocks printing technology in Japan for many centuries, Chinese printed books flooded the market. This went on until1650 when the ‘Ise monogatari’ first illustrated book printed from wood blocks by Japan realized. The illustrations in such early printed books were crude and directly relevant to the text. However, shortly after the artworks featured more important and offered the masses with an reasonable price and form of art. More or less in the 1660s, a considerable number of illustrators served u...