The
Spirit of the North Wing
The earliest objects found in the Japanese collection are every-day utensils designed to be held and touched. A celebration of nature’s elements, they are never far removed from the fire, water, and earth from which they came. The warmth of early earthenware, such as the Round Pottery Jar of the Yayoi period, testify to a veneration of nature rooted in a native animism in which spirits dwelt in rocks, rivers, and trees.
Even at a later period when craftsman experimented with more sophisticated color combinations, glazes and shapes, as seen in the Jar with Handle, an example of Sanage ware of the early Heian period, the pottery still retains a spontaneity and grace of form that mirrors natural beauty. It is this sense of spontaneity and tranquil refinement that is the aesthetic value at the core of all the objects of the Miho Museum's Japanese collection. Even the most fantastic and manneristic art objects are never far from this sensibility.
With the advent of Buddhism the accumulated force of the ancient civilizations of the outside world swept over the insular island of Japan. As Japanese artisans adopted the iconography and insights of Buddhism, they imbued Buddhist art with a delicacy and gentle quietude that was their own. When examining the exquisitely shaped folds of the gown and the hands of the Standing Jizo Bosatsu one is left with a sense that these forms are evolving spontaneously out of themselves, much as a stalk of rice or a pine branch might grow. The artistry is subtle, almost unseen. The ancient world from which Buddhism flowered transformed Japan and Japan in turn made it unmistakably its own.
This sensibility, born of the lucidity of Buddhism and an indigenous gracefulness, reached its zenith with the tea ceremony tradition of the Momoyama period. The participants in this ritual were surrounded with beautiful objects such as the Mukosuke Tea Ceremony Dishes of the Edo period. These objects were carefully chosen to be in harmony with the season of the year, the room in which the ceremony was performed, and with the honored guests. The idea was to create an experience that transcended daily existence, one that allowed the guests to enjoy a finer awareness of the world that exists both without and within the self. Essential to the art of tea is a refinement, simplicity, and an elegance that heightens a perception of timeless beauty.
This transcendental aspect of the Tea Ceremony is a key to understanding other Japanese arts such as painting and calligraphy. Paintings depicted a wide range of stock subjects, horses frolicking on a riverside as a ship sails off in the distance, Buddha welcoming the souls of the dead, whimsical landscapes and famous battles. The human-like figures of rabbits, monkeys and frogs that inhabit the painted scroll of Frolicking Animals and Figures from the Heian period embody both a joy of life and a humorous irreverence of human foibles. Later hanging scroll paintings such as Waterfall and Dragon of the Edo period, completed by two masters separated by fifty years, also displays this same fondness for both the physical and the fantastic world. The fluidity of line and the appreciation of form and space that both these paintings demonstrate lend both a natural grace and elegance that transcend their fantastic imagery.
Calligraphy and literature are important aspects of Japanese culture. Some calligraphic styles are lucid and precise while others emphasize a free and running style that is difficult to read. Yet, whatever the style, the handwriting imparts a character that is visual as well as textual. The golden ink strokes on purple colored paper of the Nara period Konkomyo Sutra scroll have a purely visual significance that is as valid as the literal meaning of its script. The placement of the characters on the paper and their style display such visual beauty that this scroll was thought to have the power to protect the nation.
The objects exhibited in the North Wing were created over a wide span of centuries, yet all possess an essential character, a refinement and intimate accord with natural grace. It is this same serene beauty that is reflected in both the architecture of the Miho Museum and the Shigaraki Mountains that surround it.
It is a simple elegance rendered from both the earth and the spirit that has the power to touch the heart.