During this period the practice of loving pictures for their own sake obtained, and de mand for beautiful pictures besides those painted for religious or decorative purposes grew larger and larger, pictorial scrolls were made much of. Taste for arts-objects was much cultivated among the upper classes, and there arose in consequence, peculiar styles, such as the °Tsukuri-ye° (emalang-up pictures°) and the °Ashide-ye° (pictures painted with Kona characters), while the game called °Ye awase° (picture-setting) was in great vogue.
The sacred book dedicated by the Taira family to the Itsukushima shrine bears witness to the artistic taste of those days, being ingen ious in design and beautiful in decoration. (Con sult Taikwan,' Vol. VII; Vols. XV and CXIII). As for sculpture, though the descendants of Jocho kept up the traditional style of the family, yet it became more elaborate and showy, losing much of the loftiness and grandeur as shown in the works of previous ages. Architecture and other branches of applied art grew more and more delicate, and came to lack in strength and vigor.
The Era of the Kamakura Shogunate By the time Yoritomo originated the Shogunate at Kamakura, the spirit of simplicity and strength, characteristic of the military class of the time, naturally also found its vent in the works of art their per vading features are force and manliness. The Zen (Dhyana), i.e., gmeditation,° sect of Bud dhism which was introduced into Japan in this period, along with the then established Nichiren sect, with their astute doctrine, were not with out their influences on the artistic productions of the age. The carved figure, so full of ro bustness, by the Buddhistic sculptor Unkei and his son Tankei, are most representative of its spirit. Even a great advance in faithfulness to nature and skill of expression is noticed in their works, among which the statues of the two guardian kings (Niwo) at the gate of the tem ple Todaiji, are looked upon as the now exist ent chef-d'cauvre. (Consult Vol. II; Vols. XI and XII).
Among the followers of the Unkei school of sculptors Jokei and Koben are to be mentioned. Kwaikei, also known as Annami, adhered to the older style of sculpture, and carved many statues of Amitabha.
As for the pictorial art, the characteristically Japanese modes of design and execution made a further development and manifested a great amount of activity. The Tosa school could
boast of such great names as Sumiyoshi-Keion, the author of the
Scroll of the Heiji-Monogatari) (according to a certain tra dition, this is attributed to Hamuro Tokinaga, but it is not credible; consult
Taikwan,> Vols. V and X;
Vols. XVI, CXXXVI and .CLXXXII) i Nobuzane to whom the authorship of the illustrations in the
(consult 'Shimbi Tailcwan,> Vol. IX;
Vols. XXXVI and LXXXVI), and of the
Scroll of the Eigwa-Monogatari) is attributed (consult
The Kose School continued to supply us chiefly pictures concerning Buddhism, Anhisa being the most famous of its supporters. Kore hisa, although originally an artist belonging to this school, made a departure from it. The well-known Scroll of the Later Three-Year-Campaign) is from his brush. Consult Vols. XII and CCII.
Shoga, a master belonging to the Takuma school, chiefly produced the Buddhistic pic tures. Later on, Yeiga of the same school, made a study of the Chinese .masters, such as Li Lung-Min of the Sung dynasty, and Wan Hui of the Yuan dynasty. The picture of the Arahats (saints) was his favorite subject.
Near the close of the period now under consideration, a kind of ink-drawing introduced the Zen (DhyanaY priests who had been to ina under the Sung Sovereigns, came gradu to find in Kawo, Mokuan, Myotaku and others its able propagators.