Samurai+Arts6

media type="custom" key="8467358" __**Sources:**__

[] [] [] [] [] [] []

__**Outline:**__

__**Essay:**__ Samurai Arts: Ikebana, Haiku, Landscape Painting & Gardens Samurai are usually known for their fighting, but they had a much gentler side as well. In fact, some samurai never actually fought in any battles. In Ancient Japan, the samurai would write haiku, draw landscape paintings, use ikebana, and much more. Even without fighting, the samurai followed Bushido to amazing extents and used honor in spirit, not just as a device to reach a purpose. The samurai were amazing and their actions and ides still influence the culture of Japan. Bushido was the a code of behavior that involved almost every aspect of life. It had six main parts: honesty, bravery, skill, loyalty, self-discipline, and obedience. It was extremely important to the samurai as it symbolized everything that they stood for in life. Some of the largest breaches of this code of conduct a samurai could make were not listening to their daimyo, being captured by their enemies, losing one of their swords, and turning agents their fellow samurai. If a samurai committed any of these traitorous acts, would dishonor their families and would be forced to commit seppuku in order to save their honor, a process that involved using their own sword to slit open their bellies in order to let their spirit escape. This code of behavior taught samurai to find all of the good in the world and become a part of it. One of the Samurai Arts is known as Ikebana. Ikebana is the samurai art of flower arranging. It originated during the Nara period, and came from the custom of giving flowers to the Buddha. In the Ashikaga period, Ikebana was a part of the tea ceremony. Ikebana reminded the samurai of the importance of beauty and nature; and taught the samurai to appreciate and respect it. Haiku, called haikai in Japanese, is another of the samurai arts. It was formed near the end of the medieval period. In Ancient Japan, haikus had to have 17 syllables and were considered to be a delicate and important art. One of the best Japanese writer of haiku was Basho. Basho was often known as the ultimate haiku poet or the master of haiku. Writing haiku well was a very important, and artistic ability that not many had and was coveted by the Japanese people. An additional samurai art was known as landscape painting. Landscape painting is painting of a natural setting. Landscape painting was quite similar to many other kinds of Japanese paintings, because it contained the same types of styles. Paper or silk was used as canvas, and ink or watercolors is used as paint. The paintings were then mounted on hand scrolls, hanging scrolls, screens, or panels. The last main samurai art is the Zen Garden. In Ancient Japan, samurai meditated in Zen Gardens in order to find inner strength and peace within themselves. Zen gardens were gardens that were beautiful and soothing. They often had sand that was raked to look like ripples in water, in order to remind the people inside the garden to remember that there actions towards one person could create a ripple, and affect other people. Therefore, the samurai would always treat people with the greatest of respect, and would be kind to all. Zen Gardens were very important to the Ancient Japanese culture. As you have read, the samurai were a very diverse culture. They followed Bushido to the greatest of their ability and exercised honor in everything they did. They used ikebana to remind themselves of the importance of nature and beauty. They used haiku to remind themselves of the importance of detail and beauty of everyday life. They created landscape painting in order to exercise delicacy and beauty. They meditated in Zen Gardens to find inner peace and to remind themselves to exercise respect.
 * 1) __What was a Zen Garden and what was its purpose?__
 * 2) __Samurai meditated in Zen Gardens in order to find inner strength__
 * 3) __Zen Gardens were beautiful and soothing__
 * 4) __Samurai can find peace and meditate in Zen Gardens__
 * 5) __What was Bushido?__
 * 6) __A code of behavior that involved almost all parts of life.__
 * 7) __Bushido has six main parts: honesty, bravery, skill, loyalty, self-discipline, and obedience.__
 * 8) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__Bushido was very important to the samurai as it symbolized everything that they stood for in life.__
 * 9) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__How does haiku work?__
 * 10) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__Samurai`s haikus had to have 17 syllables.__
 * 11) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__Haikus, called haikai in Japanese, were formed near the end of the medieval period.__
 * 12) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__The best Japanese writer of haiku was Basho, who was the ultimate haiku poet and master.__
 * 13) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__What was ikebana and how was it important?__
 * 14) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__Ikebana was the samurai art of flower arranging__
 * 15) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__In the Ashikaga period, Ikebana was used as part of the tea ceremony.__
 * 16) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__Ikebana originated from as early a time as the Nara period from the custom of offering flowers to the Buddha.__
 * 17) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__How did samurai landscape painting work and what was its purpose?__
 * 18) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__Samurai landscape painting is painting of a natural setting.__
 * 19) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__Landscape painting, like many other types of Japanese painting, was done on paper or silk, using ink or watercolors.__
 * 20) <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0px; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">__Painting were mounted on hand scrolls, hanging scrolls, screens, or panels.__