Section IV: Continental Influence

When Japan was isolated from European influence during the Edo period (1615–1868), it was also isolated from continental East Asian influence. After Japan’s borders opened, it became possible not only to travel to Europe, but also to Korea and China. 

Traditional Chinese themes that had long been part of the Japanese artistic canon took on a new significance—evident for example in Tomita Keisen’s (1879–1936) realistic depiction of West Lake. Novel scenes of the Chinese countryside also emerged, such as Ueda Banshū’s Scene from the South. 
 
The cultural exchange between Japan and the continent was complicated by the militarization that came hand in hand with modernization. The first Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 interrupted interactions between Japanese and Chinese artists, and Japan’s forcible colonization of Korea in 1910 had an impact on the Korean peninsula that still shapes international politics today. Japan’s invasion of China in the buildup to WWII was similarly devastating. 
 
The history of modern Japanese art is generally presented from the perspective of European (and American) influence, with little mention made of interactions with continental Asia. Most textbook surveys of Japanese art history focus their presentation of the modern period on the European artists who were invited to Japan to teach Western drawing and oil painting; the Japanese students who traveled to Europe; and examples of oil paintings and sculptures in Western modes that mark the ways in which Western art changed Japan—and to some extent, how Japan changed Western art. 
 
European influence undoubtedly brought about paradigmatic shifts in Japanese culture. However, it is only one piece of an intricate puzzle. Since the beginnings of Japanese history, the archipelago has always been part of a larger East Asian cultural complex that includes China and Korea. Japan traditionally understood its own culture as a dialogue between continental and native modes.