Special Issue of the Journal

Education about Asia: Teaching about Asia through the Visual and Performing Arts.
http://www.aasianst.org/EAA/1.htm
The articles in this Spring 2004 special issue (vol 9 n1) that deal with Japan are: "Ainu-e: Instructional Resources for the Study of Japan's Other People" by Chisato O. Dubreuil; "Japanese Art for the Classroom: Images, Texts, and Notes for Teachers" by Frank L. Chance; "Genji to Godzilla: Using Art and Film to Teach Japan" by Penny M. Rode; and "Performance Art in the Classroom: Teaching through Kabuki and Chinese Opera" by Margaret H. Lonzetta.

Lesson Plans and Teacher's Guides

Introduction to Japanese Buddhist Art. (2004) 88p. Includes CD-ROM and a Daruma Doll. Price: $39.95.
http://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/catalog/20847/
Introduces middle-school and secondary students to expressions of Buddhism in art in the Japanese context. Lessons on art history, Buddhism, religious institutions, and curatorial practices encourage students, with examples of Buddhist art, to see objects in more ways than one and to realize that looking at and displaying these objects can shape our understanding of the world in significant ways.

Japan: Images and Words. An Interdisciplinary Unit for Sixth-Grade Art and Language Arts Classes . Lyons, Nancy Hague; Ridley, Sarah (1994). 66p. Availability: Education Department, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington , DC 20560 ($24 plus $4.50 shipping and handling; packet includes six color slides and six color prints). ERIC number: ED391771.
This packet, written for teachers of sixth-grade art and language arts courses, is designed to inspire creative expression in words and images through an appreciation for Japanese art. Handouts for student use and a teacher's lesson guide also are included.

Japan: Images of a People . Art to Zoo: Teaching with the Power of Objects, Jan-Feb 1997.
Full text at: http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/ japan_images_people/index.html
This three-part lesson is designed to demystify some examples of Japanese painting and help grade 4-9 students better understand and appreciate the culture that produced them. It addresses geography, paintings as information sources, and the creation of miniature folding screens inspired by Japanese examples. Contains 12 resources.

The Art of Buddhism. A Teacher's Guide. Forsgren, Krista; Benskin, Elizabeth (2001) 128pp. Availability: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 707, Washington, D.C. ERIC number: ED471478
For full text (in three parts):
http://www.asia.si.edu/education/ArtofBuddhism1.pdf
http://www.asia.si.edu/education/ArtofBuddhism2.pdf
http://www.asia.si.edu/education/ArtofBuddhism3.pdf
While the art of Buddhism has an enduring tradition throughout Asia, this teaching guide focuses on the cultures of three countries in which the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries' collections are particularly strong: India, China, and Japan.

Artsedge (a program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) offers three lesson plans:

• Japanese woodblock prints (http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3419/) . Students study the Ukyio-e from its early beginnings to its height in the late 1800s, learn about the techniques and development of this process, view prints from the time period, and create an Ukyio-e of their own.

• Noh Theater (http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3418/) . Students study the art of the Japanese Noh theater and act out a Noh play.

• You Too Can Haiku (http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2246/). This lesson introduces students to the Japanese poetic form of haiku. Students illustrate and "publish" their finished poems in the style of a Japanese scroll using rice paper, ink, and watercolor.

The Floating World Revisited: 18th-Century Japanese Art. Osaki, Amy Boyce. Art Education, vol 49 n3 May 1996. ERIC number: EJ530110.
Presents an instructional resource consisting of four 18th-century Japanese prints combined with discussion questions and related activities for grades 6-12. The prints illustrate various aspects of a society in transition. Includes background material on 18th-century Japan and the prints.

Spring Blossoms, Autumn Moon: Japanese Art for the Classroom. Louden, Sarah M. (1989). 165pp. Availability: Seattle Art Museum, Education Department, P.O. Box 22000, Seattle, WA 98112-3303 . Tel: (206) 654-3124. ($33.00; $35.46 for WA state).
This curriculum resource offers an open-ended approach to teaching Japanese art and culture through the cycle of the seasons. Activities in the unit suggest opportunities for teachers to relate students' observations of nature in their own surroundings to the creations of Japanese artists for the purpose of increasing their visual awareness both of art and the world around them. The unit is multidisciplinary. The lesson objectives are based on the state curriculum guidelines for art and international education.

Japanese Art: The Birth of a Native Tradition. (1985). 120 slides, audio-cassette, guide. Availability: Program in International Educational Resources; Yale University, 34 Hillhouse Ave., P.O. Box 208206, New Haven, CT 06520. May be borrowed for a fee from the East Asian Resource and Education Program at Yale.
This multimedia unit, part of The Japan Of Today Series, is a survey of Japanese art, and includes architecture, gardens, sculpture, painting, pottery, weaving, and dyeing.

Bushido: Code of the Samurai in Japanese Art and Literature. (1985). 39pp. Availability: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA 94118 ($20, includes 20 slides) ERIC number: ED391756. http://www.asianart.org/foreducators.htm
This teacher's resource packet gives a brief history of the Japanese Warrior, and explains bushido , the ethical warrior code. Warrior artifacts, armor, helmets, and swords are discussed. Literature, exemplified by the 12th century historical narrative, "The Tale of the Heike," is discussed, and the Japanese art style evident in screen painting is presented.

 

Books, Other Bibliographies

A Concise History of Japanese Art. Swann, Peter C. (1979). 332pp. Availability: Kodansha International Ltd., 17 14 Otowa 1 chome, Bunkyo ku, Tokyo 112 and Kodansha America Inc., 114 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10011 ($18.95)
This revised, compact edition moves through each major art period, and shows how aesthetic sensibilities--such as that derived from Zen--were transformed over the centuries and brought to life in great masterpieces. Included is a map of Japan , a bibliography, index, and black and white photos which illustrate the text.

Hands-On Asia: Art Activities for All Ages. Merrill, Yvonne Y. (1999). 87pp. Availability: Kits Publishing, 2359 E. Bryan Ave., Salt Lake City, Utah 84108; e-mail: info@hands-on.com. ($22.00).
http://www.hands-on.com
This oversized book contains craft projects based on folk arts. Japan-related projects include Kabuki warrior mask, Daruma dolls, maneki-neko welcoming cat, twig vase, Japanese kite, stick puppets, Shinto bird, noh masks, bento lunchbox, and samurai armor. Step-by-step instructions are accompanied by full-size color photos of the finished project.

A Reader's Guide to the Arts of Japan
http://www.asiasociety.org/arts/japan/bibliography.html
Features more than 450 annotations on the best publications on Japanese Art, is organized by both medium and period, and is fully searchable.

 

Internet Sites

Art of Japan Thinkquest.
http://library.thinkquest.org/27458/nf/index.html
This student-developed website reveals Japanese culture through traditional Japanese arts (sculpture, paintings, practical arts, gardens, architecture, and origami) using reports, flash animations and picture galleries. Multimedia enhances the user's experience; quizzes and polls allow visitors a chance to interact.

The Virtual Museum of Japanese Arts
Web Japan, http://web-japan.org/museum/menu.html
This site offers descriptions and images of Japan 's traditional culture, arranged into categories: fine arts, crafts, performing arts, pastime arts (flower arrangement, tea ceremony, calligraphy, and bonsai), material arts, and other arts.

Museums Online

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
http://www.mfa.org/artemis/collections/aaoa.htm
Two "selected tours" on this website are: Japanese Art, representing Buddhist and Shinto paintings and sculpture, scroll and screen paintings, ceramics, lacquerware, swords, metalwork, inro (medicine boxes), and netsuke (toggle weights); and Japanese Prints -- woodblock prints by ukiyo-e masters, ranging from the 17 th -century masters Moronobu to those of contemporary artists. An exhibition entitled Pursuits of Power: Falconry and the Samurai, 1600-1900 runs through June 12, 2005.

Virtual gallery-- More Than Meets the Eye: Japanese Art in the Asia Society Collection. http://www.asiasociety.org/arts/japan/vg.html
Some of the images in this collection are eroticized portraits of courtesans and should be carefully reviewed for appropriateness before allowing young children to access to the images.

The Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution.
http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online.htm
Provides four online exhibitions of Japanese art: Dream Worlds: Modern Japanese Prints and Paintings from the Robert O. Muller Collection; Faith and Form: Selected Calligraphy and Painting from Japanese Religious Tradition; Isamu Noguchi and Modern Japanese Ceramics; and Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints from the Anne van Biema Collection.

The Metropolitan Museum -Asian Art Collection. http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_Of_Art/department.asp?dep=6
Highlights 49 items in its collection of Asian art, including photographs and detailed descriptions.

 

See also our Internet Guide on Japanese art at
http://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/clearinghouse/iguides/art.php

Compiled by Roger Sensenbaugh

updated April 20, 2005