1. Asia China and Japan

2. China Oldest continuous culture in the world Inventions: compass, paper, porcelain and printing with carved wooden blocks

3. Chinese Wood Blocks The frontispiece of the world's oldest surviving book printed on paper, the Diamond Sutra, discovered at Tunhuang by Sir Aurel Stein in 1907. The book is in the form of a roll with a total length of 171/2 feet, and it was printed in the year 868. The frontispiece depicts the Buddha discoursing with his disciple Subhuti, and surrounded by divine beings, monks and officials in Chinese dress. This is the earliest woodcut illustration in a printed book. (British Library, London.)

4. Han Dynasty 206 BC Buddism came to China Has a great impact on how artists approached their work Raised artists to respect and admiration position Chinese sculptors did not regard the body as a thing of beauty like the Greeks Buddism places great emphasis on meditation and this has an important influence on art

5. Chinese Scrolls Earliest Chinese painting art scrolls- long roll of illustrated parchment or silk Designed to be rolled and unrolled to be looked at 24” at a time

6. Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 Similar to the Han Dynasty Important discovery- Ceramics- cobalt blue glaze on porcelain

7. Japan Similar to China Buddism also introduced

8. Japan Pagodas- tower several stories high with roofs slightly curved upward at the edges Used as temples for Buddha Richly decorated and delicately assembled Made primarily of wood with a stone base and has wood rafters with fitted crafted joints Well designed and constructed to survive earthquakes and storms Still standing as the oldest structures in the world

9. Pagodas

10. Japan Woodblock printing -introduced from China in the 8 th century Process involved transferring and cutting pictures into wood blocks, inking surfaces of blocks and printing Originally in black and white 18 th century- multicolored ink developed with a separate block for each color

11. The Great Wave, by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) The Breaking Wave Off Kanagawa. Also called The Great Wave. Woodblock print from Hokusai's series Thirty-six Views of Fuji, which are the high point of Japanese prints. The original is at the Hakone Museum in Japan. Hokusai's most famous picture and easily Japan's most famous image is a seascape with Mt. Fuji. The waves form a frame through which we see Mt. Fuji in the distance. Hokusai loved to depict water in motion: the foam of the wave is breaking into claws which grasp for the fishermen. The large wave forms a massive yin to the yang of empty space under it. The impending crash of the wave brings tension into the painting. In the foreground, a small peaked wave forms a miniature Mt. Fuji, which is repeated hundreds of miles away in the enormous Mt. Fuji which shrinks through perspective; the wavelet is larger than the mountain. Instead of shoguns and nobility, we see tiny fishermen huddled into their sleek crafts as they slide down a seamount and dive straight into the wave to make it to the other side. The yin violence of Nature is counterbalanced by the yang relaxed confidence of expert fishermen. Oddly, though it's a sea storm, the sun is shining. To Westerners, this woodblock seems to be the quintessential Japanese image, yet it's quite un-Japanese. Traditional Japanese would have never painted lower-class fishermen (at the time, fishermen were one of the lowest and most despised of Japanese classes); Japanese ignored nature; they would not have used perspective; they wouldn't have paid much attention to the subtle shading of the sky. We like the woodblock print because it's familiar to us. This Japanese pastoral painting originated in Western art: landscape, long- distance perspective, nature, and ordinary humans. The Giant Wave is actually a Western painting, seen through Japanese eyes.

12. Images of Japan

17. The Samurai armor remains one of the most interesting and rare components of the Samurai era. The armor was constructed from bamboo, cloth and metal. Unlike its better known counterpart, the medieval armor, the Japanese example was much lighter, which provided for ease of movement but compromised protection. The armor had to be light weight because the Samurai would often engage into hand to hand combat, requiring fast and precise movements. The majority of the armor was made from bamboo. The chest plate was usually one piece of metal while the arms and neck were composed of small pieces of metal tied together with colorful strings. The Samurai warrior was an expert in hand to hand combat. The disciplines he mastered included Ju Jitsu, Iaido and swordsmanship. The Samurai would fight mounted on a horse or on foot. It is said that some of their opponents were strong and skilled enough to be able to punch through the Samurai armor with a single strike from their fist.