$Unique_ID{bob00331} $Pretitle{} $Title{Japan Chapter 3C. Graduate Schools and Research Institutes and the Arts} $Subtitle{} $Author{Jane T. Griffin} $Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army} $Subject{arts japanese art cultural national japan artists research traditional education see pictures see figures } $Date{1981} $Log{See Daigoji Temple*0033102.scf } Title: Japan Book: Japan, A Country Study Author: Jane T. Griffin Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army Date: 1981 Chapter 3C. Graduate Schools and Research Institutes and the Arts Because academic research is essential in order to advance knowledge, particularly scientific technology, the expansion of graduate schools and research institutes had become urgent by the 1970s. By 1978 more than half of the public and private universities-240 in all-had graduate schools, among which 155 offered doctoral-level studies. The national universities dominated graduate studies and research, attracting about 32,000 of the 53,000 graduates enrolled in 1979. In addition to the standard fields of study, a doctorate of interdisciplinary research was created in 1976 to help cut across and enlarge the older, narrow confines of research. The concept of specialized universities for joint use by the higher educational community was made concrete in Tsukuba University, the Science and Technology University, the new Educational University, and the Library Information University. To meet criticism that Japanese higher education was cutting itself off from the flow of outside knowledge, the government promoted exchange of scholars with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, the United States, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), Britain, China, and other countries. The establishment in 1975 of United Nations University as a global institution in Tokyo was a major step toward such internationalism. This academic think-tank has concentrated on seeking solutions to various urgent economic, cultural, and ecological problems facing mankind. Another instance of growing international exchange in the 1970s was the presence of foreign students in Japan, among whom were 420 Chinese, who first came in 1979 for two-year study periods. Of the 6,500 foreign students in Japan in 1980, half were from Asia. Thirteen thousand Japanese students went abroad to study in 1979. There has been a rise in the number of specialized institutions for advanced research, sponsored both by the government and private nonprofit groups. The majority (87 percent) of advanced research, however, is done at institutes within the universities. The sophistication of Japan's advanced research institutes could be gauged by the fact that by 1981 the country had won six Nobel prizes-four in the sciences. The career of the Japanese intellectual progresses through the usual route of publication, teaching, and participation in academic societies, national and international. Academic societies flourish in Japan, and election to membership in the top-ranking councils of a profession is the accolade. The Japan Academy of Science, which included the humanities, has an elected membership of 127; the Science Council of Japan had an open membership of some 225,000. In 1980 the academy elected its first woman member of the governing board, a specialist in radioactivity. Problems, Trends, and Goals According to one critic, "institutional uniformity is the fundamental shared characteristic of all Japanese schools," a direct result of government's determined policy to eliminate differences. The school system from the compulsory through the higher levels followed the same laws and standards. This was useful for a mobile population and ensured that national exams were applicable to all, but it also created a conformist society. Individualism and creativity were stifled in the overwhelmingly egalitarian concept of "sameness." Serious questions have been asked about whether the schools were failing their gifted students by confining them to uniform classes or were in part responsible for the poorer students turning to violence. Reforms of the 1970s stressed the need for flexibility, adding advanced classes, and creating new vocational options. Such problems were seen by many as the consequence of both the expansion rate and the inflexible institutional uniformity of the school system. Furthermore the rush to higher education had also pushed the colleges and universities into the production of a mass-educated society for whom the traditional good job no longer existed. A major shift in social values had occurred that placed college-educated people into less prestigious positions. An orientation towards "life-long educational programs" via the mass media had also been advocated. Nikkyoso, a leftist-oriented labor organization, has seen itself as carrying on the class struggle against the conservative educational bureaucracy of the Ministry of Education (see Interest Groups, ch. 6; Labor Relations, ch. 4). The two adversaries have clashed over working hours, salaries, promotions, and other issues; in the late 1950s strikes and dismissals occurred over a four-year period, brought on by disputes about teacher efficiency ratings. Nikkyoso and the ministry differed in their conceptions of the teacher; the teachers saw themselves as "educational workers" rather than as bureaucratic professionals, the mode in which the ministry viewed them. Generally teachers opposed the authority of the ministry on most questions, asserting that they should be responsible for matters concerning the school and classroom. Textbook selection has been a particularly abrasive issue. During the 1950s, after some teachers propagated a dialectical world view framed in terms of class struggle, the ministry assumed jurisdiction over curriculum and textbooks. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) inserted an emphasis on traditional values into the curriculum by making moral education a part of the study plan. In the early 1980s the LDP called for textbook selection to be shifted from city- and county-level administrators, where Nikkyoso influence was strong, to the prefectural level. Nikkyoso countered by asserting that this forewarned a swing to the right and was suggestive of "thought control." Another concern was whether education should develop a rich personality in the child or promote only cognitive input. The conservatives wanted more utilitarian training for the needs of the country, for example, in science and technology. Again, when the conservatives tried to institute an upgraded track for bright children, cries of elitism came from the uncompromisingly egalitarian union members. In the 1970s a poll of teachers showed that 50 percent did not have a political preference nor did they think that teachers should strike, while only 40 percent approved of political involvement by the union. The majority, however, supported Nikkyoso stands on school and classroom issues and efforts to raise salaries and expressed themselves in the formulation of educational policy. The aim of education for the future will be toward a fusion of the many elements fought for by the Ministry of Education and Nikkyoso so that the needs of the individual as well as those of society are met. By restructuring the educational system to allow greater flexibility of response to individual or local needs, together with a greater diversified offering, the old problem of meritocracy versus egalitarianism may be on the way toward some resolution. In many ways the old hierarchies in education have changed to meet the needs for internationalism, for broader outlooks cutting across disciplines, and even individual schools. The new-concept universities, new research institutes staffed with foreign faculty, and the exchange of students with many lands are producing a more open-minded, less parochial intellectual class, which is at home in the international modern world. The idea that the coming Japanese generation in the twenty-first century should have such qualities as "self-reliance, creativeness, social awareness, and a sense of identity, as well as being open-minded rather than narrowly patriotic" was being espoused in official statements on education in the 1980s. The Arts Japan's aesthetic conceptions, deriving from the society's diverse cultural traditions, have been formative in the production of unique art forms. All of these are characterized by the overwhelming technical perfection achieved by the artists. Over the centuries art motifs developed and were refined, becoming imbued with symbolic significance. Like a pearl, they acquired many layers of meaning and a high luster. Japanese aesthetics provide a key to understanding artistic works that are perceivably different from those coming from the Western artistic tradition. In order to learn how to "read" the arts of Japan, some basic concepts should be considered. Within the East Asian artistic tradition, China has been the acknowledged teacher and Japan the devoted student, but Japanese arts developed their own style, which is clearly not Chinese. The monumental, symmetrically balanced, rational approach of Chinese art became miniaturized, irregular, and subtly suggestive in Japanese hands. Miniature rock gardens, miniature plants (bonsai), and miniature flower gardens (in flower arrangements) have been the province of cultured aristocrats for 1,000 years and remain a part of the cultural life today. A delight in decorating small objects enlivened miniature sculptures made into belt toggles, consummately well-designed medicine cases, or sword decorations. The diagonal rather than the triangle is the favored device whether in painting, architectural and garden design, or in formulating dance steps or musical notations. Odd numbers replace even ones in the regularity of the Chinese master pattern, and a pull to one side allows a motif to turn the corner of a three-dimensional object, thus giving continuity and motion that is lacking in a static frontal design. Japanese painters used the devices of the cutoff, close-up, and fade-out by the twelfth century, which may explain why modern filmmaking has been such a natural and successful art form in Japan. Suggestion is used rather than direct statement; oblique poetic hints, allusive, inconclusive melodies or thoughts-all are frustrating to the Westerner trying to penetrate the meanings in literature, music, painting, or even everyday language. The Japanese began expressing their aesthetic concepts in a number of evocative phrases by about the tenth or eleventh centuries. The courtly refinements of the aristocratic Heian period evolved into the elegant simplicity seen as the essence of good taste in the understated art that is called shibui. Two terms originating from Zen Buddhist meditative practices describe degrees of tranquility: one, the repose found in humble melancholy (wabi), the other, the serenity accompanying the enjoyment of subdued beauty (sabi). Another contribution of Zen is the combination of unexpected, startling, or even spontaneous elements used to jolt one's consciousness toward the goal of enlightenment. This led to the combinations of such unlikely materials as lead inlaid in lacquer, clashing poetic imagery, or the use of bizarre ghosts in theater. Unexpectedly humorous, sometimes grotesque images or motifs also stem from this quality of the Zen conundrum (koan). Although most art has been secular since the Tokugawa period, the traditional aesthetics and training methods (stemming generally from religious sources) continue to underlie artistic productions. In the Meiji period, Western art forms came into Japan and were studied with intense interest by Japanese artists, who soon could imitate a variety of European arts. By the early twentieth century a period of assimilation began as techniques were mastered and the new forms in literature and the visual and performing arts were adapted. Artists divided into two main camps, those continuing in traditional Japanese style and those who went wholeheartedly into a study of the new Western culture. In the late 1920s a generation of Japanese artists emerged who were able to synthesize Western art forms with Japanese artistic conceptions. Oil painters might use the calligraphic, black lines of the Japanese tradition, or the Asian tonal system and musical instruments to create a concerto, while the new theaters dealt with social themes in the allusive, inconclusive manner of traditional literary style. Many artists following various standard Western forms were accused of being imitators rather than innovators, but the age-old Asian tradition has always entailed copying a master's style until it has been perfected, which explains why so much "imitative" art was produced. A great many artists in the postwar period began working in art forms that can only be described as international modern. They no longer belonged to a local artistic development but had joined the mainstream of world art. Within this broad spectrum there remained something of the traditional Japanese artistic perception, such as the use of modular space in architecture and the spacing of intervals in music and dance, together with a propensity for certain color combinations or characteristic literary forms. The wide variety of art forms available to the Japanese in the 1980s reflected the vigorous state of the arts, widely supported by the Japanese people and promoted by the government. Traditionally the artist was a vehicle for the arts and was reticent personally, in keeping with his role as an artisan or entertainer of low social status. The calligrapher-a member of the gentleman scholarly class, or samurai-who participated in the arts did have higher status, and artists of genius were often recognized by receiving a name from a feudal lord and thus rising socially. Only the performing arts were devoid of social prestige, and the immorality of actresses of the early Kabuki theater caused the Tokugawa shogunate to bar women from the stage, so that female roles in Kabuki continue to be played by men. By the early 1980s there were a number of good, specialized universities for the arts, led by the national universities. The most important was the prestigious Tokyo Arts University, said to be the most difficult of all national universities to enter. Traditional training in the arts remained in the hands of experts who taught from their homes or headed schools working within a master-pupil (iemoto) relationship. A pupil did not experiment in his own style until he reached the top level of training, was graduated, or became the head of the school. Many young artists have criticized this system as stifling creativity and individuality. Some iemoto lineages can still be traced to the medieval period and perpetuate a master's style or theme, subject, and technique. Japanese artists consider technical virtuosity as the sine qua non of their various professions, a fact recognized by the rest of the world to be one of the hallmarks of Japanese art. The government has provided active support for the arts through the Agency for Cultural Affairs, set up in 1968 as a special body of the Ministry of Education. The Cultural Affairs Division of the agency has disseminated information about the arts within Japan as well as internationally; the Cultural Properties Protection Division has protected the nation's cultural heritage. Specifically the Cultural Affairs Division has been concerned with arts promotion, arts copyrights, art festivals, improvements in the national language, and religious affairs. It has also promoted traveling cultural events in music, theater, dance, art exhibitions, and local art organizations. Special prizes have been offered to encourage young artists, and a few have won grants to train abroad each year. The national museums of modern art in Tokyo and Kyoto and the Museum of Western Art in Tokyo have been funded by the agency and have exhibited both international and Japanese shows. The division has also administered the Japan Academy of Arts to honor eminent persons of arts and letters, appointing them to its membership and offering some 3 million Yen in prize money. Awards were made in the presence of the emperor, who bestowed the highest accolade personally. Other official honors were the Award for Distinguished Cultural Services and the Order of Cultural Merit. The Cultural Properties Protection Division, originally established to administer postwar repair, was responsible in 1981 for over 1,000 historic sites, including entire ancient areas such as the former capitals of Asuka, Heijo, and Fujiwara, 200 famous scenic places, and some 900 national monuments, plus indigenous flora and fauna such as ibis and storks. As of 1978 some 1,000 buildings, paintings, sculpture, and other art forms had been designated National Treasures. In addition more than 10,000 had the lesser designation of Important Cultural Properties-sculpture taking the lion's share, closely followed by calligraphy. During the 1970s many important prehistoric and historic sites were investigated, and exciting new finds occurred. Among them were a sword bearing the name of the Emperor Yuryaku of the fifth century; the tomb of Ono Yasumaro, compiler of the Kojiki (712), the oldest of Japan's extant histories; the first colored painting ever seen from the hand of Sharaku, the famous eighteenth century wood-block print artist; and many hitherto unknown works of art newly cataloged from temple storehouses. In 1975 an amendment to the Cultural Properties Protection Act of 1897 enabled the agency to designate traditional areas and buildings in urban centers as preservation zones. The agency also has funded the making and repair of ancient musical (gagaku) instruments, lacquer brush works, and in 1978 added the preservation of the technique of carving ukiyo-e wood-block prints, which were facing extinction. One of the most interesting features of the Cultural Properties Protection Division has been its role as protector of the traditional arts and crafts in the form of their living exemplars. Individual artists or groups (such as a dance troupe, a pottery village) have been designated as "intangible cultural assets" (mukei bunkazai) of the nation in recognition of their accomplishments. Major exponents of the traditional arts have been designated as "living national treasures." Britain knights distinguished artists thus elevating their social status; France elects them to the Academie Francaise, confirming their intellectual values; but Japan honors its top artists as a national resource, as "living National Treasures." In 1981 the four masters so designated included a No performer of waki roles, a nagauta singer, a gold-and-silver-leaf artist, and a Bizen-style swordmaker. Each was provided a lifetime pension of 1.5 million Yen per year plus financial aid for training disciples. The national museums of Japanese and Asian art in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara, the Cultural Properties Research institutes at Tokyo and Nara, the National Theater, the Ethnological Museum, and the National Storehouse for Fine Arts come under the protection of the Cultural Properties Protection Division. In 1981 a new National Museum of History and Folk Culture opened, and new cultural facilities under construction included the National No Theater, the National Bunraku Theater, and a projected second National Theater. Japanese artists typically gather together in a large number of arts associations. The Japan Artists' League, for example, was responsible for the largest number of major exhibitions, including the prestigious Nitten. There were several writers' and musicians' groups and more than 100 schools of flower arrangement in an all-Japan association. Arts patronage and promotion has come from a number of public and private institutions, the government-sponsored annual Arts Festival, and the burgeoning field of arts prizes. All the major newspapers sponsored exhibitions and gave yearly prizes in the arts; Japan Broadcasting Corporation (Nippon Hoso Kyokai-NHK) sponsored foreign orchestras and opera companies; the major book publishers and top intellectual magazines (Chuo koron and Bungei shunju) offered literary prizes, as did private companies for arts and sciences. The most important of the many literary prizes was the Akutagawa, the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. The government played a major role by funding the Japan Foundation, which provided both individual and institutional grants, effected scholarly exchanges and annual prizes, supported publications and exhibitions, and sent traditional Japanese arts groups abroad. The Arts Festival, held for two months each fall, was sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs for all areas of the performing arts. Major cities provided substantial support for the arts, and a number had built large centers for the performing arts. There were also a number of new municipal museums, which together with the many private museums blossoming in the 1970s reflected the rise of popular interest in the arts. [See Daigoji Temple: Daigoji Temple, Kyoto, a noted Buddhist temple, dating to 951 A.D. and a designated National Treasure Courtesy Embassy of Japan]