Tag - nihonga

 
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November 15, 2025
 

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NIHONGA

A view of Matazo Kayama’s folding screen paintings reproduced on ceramic panels by Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics, displayed at Simose Art Museum.
CULTURE / Art
May 11, 2024
Art and architecture come together at Simose Art Museum
Tradition and innovation converge at Shimose Art Museum. For it first anniversary, the venue is spotlighting trailblazer nihonga artist Matazo Kayama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 27, 2019
Ryonosuke Shimomura: An eclectic rule breaker
At school, Ryonosuke Shimomura conceived art techniques that led one teacher to think he was color blind. Yet his unusual approach led him to become a principal of the Pan Real Art Association — Japan's influential avant-garde Japanese-style painting groups.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 11, 2019
The Osakan artists who bucked the system
Osakan paintings have conventionally emphasized regional traits of humor, boisterousness and fun. 'Do You Know Osaka Painting Circles' at the Shokado Garden Art Museum, however, reminds viewers of its farther flung painting traditions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 23, 2019
First, there was Matsumura Goshun
The recent focus on the vibrant idiosyncratic works of the Edo Period (1603-1868) eccentric painters has left the achievements more traditional masters in neglect. 'Road to Shijo School' at the Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, is a welcome reparative.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Apr 13, 2019
Masaya Nakayama: Keeping an eye on the art of subtraction
Finding artistic freedom in New York, Osaka-born artist finds new expressions for Japanese-style painting.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2018
Tanaka Isson: Better late than never
Limited success in Tokyo led Tanaka Isson (1908-77) to burn his sketchbooks, sell his house, and move to Oshima, where he lived in near poverty painting in a vibrant style that posthumously captured the nation's heart.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 26, 2018
Yokoyama Taikan: Driven by loyalty
Yokoyama Taikan (1868-1958) is inarguably the definitive artist in creating pictorial and organizational frameworks inaugurating and furthering modern nihonga (Japanese painting.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 3, 2018
When art met craft in Meiji Era Japan
The focus of "The 150th Anniversary of the Meiji Period: Making and Designing Meiji Arts and Crafts" at The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, concerns the relationship between nihonga (Japanese-style) painters of Kyoto and craft production during a time when craft and design were part of the government's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 24, 2017
Motonobu: The father of Kano styles
A family-run enterprise, the Kano school of painting was a consistent force in Japan's art world for more than 300 years, from the Muromachi Period (1336-1573) up until its fortune waned in the 19th century.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 25, 2017
Straddling East and West in art
Hybridity and eclecticism may be key concepts in much contemporary art, yet they are not new phenomena. In the Taisho Era (1912-1926), Tetsugoro Yorozu virtually personified the idea of hybrid art: As Japan rushed toward modernization, he not only experimented with the very latest forms of Western art...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 15, 2016
'Kuniyoshi & Kunisada: From the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston'
Ukiyo-e prints were once the equivalent of today's TV shows and magazines. During the Edo Period (1603- 1868), they often illustrated kabuki theater stars and portrayed the latest fashion trends, even at times serving as cosmetics catalogs or tourist guidebooks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 8, 2016
'Tomioka Tessai Retrospective'
March 12-May 8
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 1, 2015
'The Entire Okada Collection of Rimpa: Hakone Joins the Rimpa 400 Year Celebration'
Sept. 5-March 31
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 2, 2015
Painting women of Japan
Ask an art lover to name Japanese women artists active before the 20th century, and chances are they'll draw a blank, despite the fact that many highly accomplished women were painting in far-earlier times.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 5, 2015
Korin: the late bloomer with innovative in style
One of the joys of visiting Tokyo's Nezu Museum in early May, is to catch the annual showing of one of the museum's most famous works, Ogata Korin's "Irises," before stepping outside to appreciate the real irises blooming in its garden.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 26, 2015
Nihonga didn't ignore the West
From the early 1880s, painting in Japan became bisected. Yōga was used to categorize works in oils that were inspired by European painting movements and nihonga became the umbrella term for a whole array of earlier Japanese painting traditions that were later modernized.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2015
'Seiho Takeuchi'
Last year marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Seiho Takeuchi (1864-1942), a pioneer of nihonga (Japanese-style painting), whose influence on the genre helped it develop even further from its traditional restraints.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 16, 2014
Less meant more to Shunso Hishida
It's no secret that the Japanese art world was going through major changes at the end of the 19th century. On the one hand, there was a flood of Western art styles, called yōga, offering exciting new possibilities, while, on the other, there was a reaction called nihonga, which sought to revitalize...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 18, 2014
The Uemuras were not quite like mother, like son
Shoko Uemura (1902-2001) was born to Shoen Uemura, the most revered and financially successful female painter of the early modern period, who arguably did more to popularize the bijinga genre (pictures of beautiful women) than any other. Artistically, however, his mother is said to have taught him nothing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 21, 2014
'Shoko Uemura'
Shoko Uemura (1902-2001) was the eldest son of renowned nihonga (Japanese-style) painter Shoen Uemura (1875-1949). Like his mother, Shoko trained in nihonga, and he became widely acclaimed for his kachō -ga (paintings of flowers and birds). Known to challenge the refined compositions of traditional...
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Descendants in Philippines denied Japanese citizenship
China warns of military response if Japan intervenes in Taiwan contingency
Representatives from the Japan Innovation Party hand over a proposal to designate Xue Jian, the Chinese consul-general in Osaka, as persona no grata, to a staff of the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
As attacks surge, who can cull bears in Japan?
Police cars leave the Akita Prefectural Police headquarters to cull bears, in the city of Akita on Thursday.
Japan may triple departure tax to tackle overtourism
A plane takes off from Haneda Airport.
Japan fully enters sports streaming era as fans face new dilemmas
Sports fan Tadashi Yokoyama streams basketball and fencing on three screens.
Stablecoins: Boring goes big, and now in Japan
Noritaka Okabe, CEO of JPYC, acknowledges a number of potential risks related to stablecoins.
Shohei Ohtani collects fourth MVP Award with 2025 NL honor
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani was named National League MVP for the second straight season on Thursday.
As Japan’s female leader rises, can she cross sumo’s sacred line?
Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (front center) delivers a speech on the first day of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Sunday. Centuries of belief and tradition still underpin the all-male association's stance of excluding women.
Tatsuya Nakadai: A masterful leading man and postwar icon
Tatsuya Nakadai had the look of a leading man in his youth, but his large and searching eyes suggested the pain and loneliness of an old soul.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo
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