Yoga (art)
Encyclopedia
or literally "Western-style paintings" is a term used to describe painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

s by Japanese artists that have been made in accordance with Western (European) traditional conventions, techniques and materials. The term was coined in the Meiji period
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

, to distinguish such works from indigenous traditional Japanese painting
Japanese painting
is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese visual arts, encompassing a wide variety of genres and styles. As with the history of Japanese arts in general, the long history of Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competition between native Japanese aesthetics and adaptation of...

s, or .

Materials

Yōga in its broadest sense encompasses oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...

, watercolors, pastels, ink sketches, lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...

, etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...

 and other techniques developed in western culture. However, in a more limited sense, Yōga is sometimes used specifically to refer to oil painting.

History

European painting was introduced to Japan during the late Muromachi period
Muromachi period
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial...

 along with Christian missionaries. Early religious works by Japanese artists in imitation of works brought by the missionaries can be considered some of the earliest forms of Yōga. However, the policy of national seclusion
Sakoku
was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...

 introduced by the Tokugawa bakufu in the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 effectively ended the influence of western art on Japanese painting, with the exception of the use of perspective
Perspective (graphical)
Perspective in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is an approximate representation, on a flat surface , of an image as it is seen by the eye...

, which was discovered by Japanese artists in sketches found in European medical and scientific texts imported from the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 via Nagasaki.

In 1855, the Tokugawa bakufu established the Bansho Shirabesho
Bansho Shirabesho
The ', or "Institute for the Study of Barbarian Books," was the Japanese institute charged with the translation and study of foreign books and publications in the late Edo Period. Founded in 1857, it functioned as a sort of bureau of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It was renamed ' in 1862, and ' in 1863...

,
a translation and research institute for western studies, including a section to investigate western art. This section was headed by Kawakami Togai, whose assistant Takahashi Yuichi
Takahashi Yuichi
was a Japanese painter, noted for his pioneering work in developing the yōga art movement in late 19-century Japanese painting.-Biography:...

 was a student of English
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 artist Charles Wirgman
Charles Wirgman
Charles Wirgman was an English artist and cartoonist, the creator of the Japan Punch and illustrator in China and Meiji period Japan for the Illustrated London News....

. Takahashi is regarded by many as the first true Yōga painter.

In 1876, the Kobu Bijutsu Gakko (Technical Art School
Tokyo Institute of Technology
The Tokyo Institute of Technology is a public research university located in Greater Tokyo Area, Japan. Tokyo Tech is the largest institution for higher education in Japan dedicated to science and technology. Tokyo Tech enrolled 4,850 undergaraduates and 5006 graduate students for 2009-2010...

) was established by the Meiji government as Japan's first dedicated Yōga art school. Foreign advisors
O-yatoi gaikokujin
The Foreign government advisors in Meiji Japan, known in Japanese as oyatoi gaikokujin , were those foreign advisors hired by the Japanese government for their specialized knowledge to assist in the modernization of Japan at the end of the Bakufu and during the Meiji era. The term is sometimes...

, such as the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 artist Antonio Fontanesi, were hired by the government to teach Japanese artists, such as Asai Chu
Asai Chū
was a Japanese painter, noted for his pioneering work in developing the yōga art movement in late 19th century and early twentieth-century Japanese painting.-Biography:...

 in the latest western techniques.

In the 1880s, the general reaction against Westernization and the growth in popularity and strength of the Nihonga
Nihonga
or literally "Japanese-style paintings" is a term used to describe paintings that have been made in accordance with traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and materials...

movement caused the temporary decline of Yōga. The Kobu Bijutsu Gakko was forced to close in 1883, and when the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko (the forerunner of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
or is one of the oldest and most prestigious art schools in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju, Adachi, Tokyo...

) was established in 1887, only Nihonga subjects were taught.

However, in 1889, the Meiji Bijutsukai (Meiji Fine Arts Society) was established by Yōga artists, and in 1893, the return of Kuroda Seiki
Kuroda Seiki
Viscount was the pseudonym of a Japanese painter and teacher, noted for bringing Western theories about art to a wide Japanese audience. He was among the leaders of the yōga movement in late 19th- and early 20th-century Japanese painting...

 from his studies in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 gave fresh impetus to the Yōga genre. From 1896, a Yōga department was added to the curriculum of the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko, and from that point onwards, Yōga has been an accepted component of Japanese painting.

Since that time, Yōga and Nihonga have been the two main divisions of modern Japanese painting. This division is reflected in education, the mounting of exhibitions, and the identification of artists. However, in many cases Nihonga artists also adopted realistic Western painting techniques, such as perspective and shading. Because of this tendency to synthesize, although Nihonga forms a distinct category within the Japanese annual Nitten
Nitten
Nitten may refer to:* Nitten, the colloquial name for the town of Newtongrange in Midlothian, Scotland* Nitten, the annual Japan Art Academy Award...

exhibitions, in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to draw a distinct separation in either techniques or materials between Nihonga and Yōga.

See also

  • List of Yōga Painters
  • Ranga (art) - "Dutch pictures", the Edo period
    Edo period
    The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

     predecessor to yōga.
  • Uki-e
    Uki-e
    Uki-e refers to a genre of Japanese woodblock print that employs western conventions of linear perspective...

     - "floating pictures", woodblock prints utilizing western linear perspective.
  • Japanese painting
    Japanese painting
    is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese visual arts, encompassing a wide variety of genres and styles. As with the history of Japanese arts in general, the long history of Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competition between native Japanese aesthetics and adaptation of...

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