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88-449: They all began as remote and impersonal gods, but gradually became much closer canonical figures for certain professions and Japanese arts . During the course of their history, the mutual influence between gods has created confusion about which of them was the patron of certain professions. The worship of this group of gods is also due to the importance of the number seven in Japan, supposedly

176-520: A spire crowning the top. Its walls are 2.5 m thick, with a ground floor diameter of 10.6 m. Another early brick pagoda is the Sui dynasty Guoqing Pagoda built in 597. The earliest large-scale stone pagoda is a Four Gates Pagoda at Licheng , Shandong, built in 611 during the Sui dynasty . Like the Songyue Pagoda, it also features a spire at its top, and is built in the pavilion style. One of

264-411: A stupa , by way of Portuguese. The origin of the pagoda can be traced to the stupa (3rd century BCE). The stupa, a dome shaped monument, was used as a commemorative monument to house sacred relics and writings. In East Asia, the architecture of Chinese towers and Chinese pavilions blended into pagoda architecture, eventually also spreading to Southeast Asia. Their construction was popularized by

352-460: A Buddhist vihara. The architectural structure of the stupa has spread across Asia, taking on many diverse forms specific to each region. Many Philippine bell towers are highly influenced by pagodas through Chinese workers hired by the Spaniards . One proposed etymology is from a South Chinese pronunciation of the term for an eight-cornered tower, Chinese: 八角塔 , and reinforced by the name of

440-695: A bag on his shoulders which is loaded with fortunes for those who believe in his virtues. Hotei's traits and virtues are contentment, magnanimity, and happiness. Hotei's original Chinese name was Kaishi, and according to legend, he died in March 916. The Japanese began to believe in Hotei during the Edo era . The reason why the Japanese have such great respect for this god comes from a legend that says that, before Zen Buddhism arrived in Japan, an alternative Buddhist thought

528-578: A central pagoda might not have been either desirable or possible. In the Song dynasty (960–1279), the Chan (Zen) sect developed a new 'seven part structure' for temples. The seven parts—the Buddha hall, dharma hall, monks' quarters, depository, gate, pure land hall and toilet facilities—completely exclude pagodas, and can be seen to represent the final triumph of the traditional Chinese palace/courtyard system over

616-542: A characteristically constant feature of human life have developed into stylized and intricate forms. This is achieved through sustained and deliberate study, training, or theorizing within a particular tradition, generations, and even between civilizations . The arts are a vehicle through which human beings cultivate distinct social, cultural, and individual identities while transmitting values, impressions, judgements, ideas, visions, spiritual meanings, patterns of life, and experiences across time and space. Prominent examples of

704-494: A famous pagoda encountered by many early European visitors to China, the "Pázhōu tǎ" (Chinese: 琶洲塔 ), standing just south of Guangzhou at Whampoa Anchorage . Another proposed etymology is Persian butkada , from but , "idol" and kada , "temple, dwelling." Yet another etymology is from the Sinhala word dāgaba , derived from Sanskrit dhātugarbha or Pali dhātugabbha : "relic womb/chamber" or "reliquary shrine", i.e.

792-521: A fat, smiling, bald man with a curly moustache. He always appears half-naked, as his clothes are not wide enough to cover his enormous belly. He blessed the Chinese, and they nicknamed him "Cho-Tei-Shi" or "Ho-Tei-Shi", which means ‘bag of old clothes’. Hotei was a Zen priest , but his appearance and some of his actions were against their moral code: his appearance made him look like quite a mischievous person and he had no fixed place to sleep. He carries

880-537: A female known as Daikokunyo (大黒女, lit. "She of Great Blackness") or Daikokutennyo (大黒天女, lit. "She of Great Blackness of the Heavens"). Bishamonten's (毘沙門天) origins can be traced back to Hinduism , but he has been adopted into Japanese culture. He comes from the Hindu god Kubera and is also known by the name " Vaisravana ". He is the god of fortune in war and battles, also associated with authority and dignity. He

968-473: A group of people. In a pottery or ceramic factory, a group of people design, manufacture, and decorate the pottery. Some pottery is regarded as art pottery . In a one-person pottery studio, ceramists or potters produce studio pottery . Ceramics excludes glass and mosaics made from glass tesserae . Conceptual art is art wherein the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. The inception of

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1056-402: A list inscribed on it of the recently successful examination candidates, in hopes that it would reverse the trend and win the county supernatural favor. Pagodas come in many different sizes, with taller ones often attracting lightning strikes , inspiring a tradition that the finial decoration of the top of the structure can seize demons. Today many pagodas have been fitted with wires making

1144-441: A means of developing capacities of attention and sensitivity and ends in themselves , the arts can simultaneously be a form of response to the world. It is a way to transform our responses and what we deem worthwhile goals or pursuits. From prehistoric cave paintings to ancient and contemporary forms of ritual to modern-day films , art has served to register, embody, and preserve our ever-shifting relationships with each other and

1232-804: A notable exception being the eighteenth-century orientalist pagoda designed by Sir William Chambers at Kew Gardens in London. The pagodas in Himalayas are derived from Newari architecture , very different from Chinese and Japanese styles. During the Southern and Northern dynasties , pagodas were mostly built of wood, as were other ancient Chinese structures. Wooden pagodas are resistant to earthquakes, and no Japanese pagoda has been destroyed by an earthquake, but they are prone to fire, natural rot, and insect infestation. Examples of wooden pagodas: The literature of subsequent eras also provides evidence of

1320-405: A peach tree, as the fruit of this tree is considered, by Chinese Taoism, as able to prolong life. In his hand he holds a cane and a book or a scroll. The wisdom of the world remains written in its pages. Jurojin enjoys rice and wine and is a very cheerful figure. Hotei (布袋) is the god of fortune, guardian of children, patron of diviners and barmen, and also the god of popularity. He is depicted as

1408-481: A reincarnation of the Taoist god Hsuan-wu. He is the god of wisdom, luck, longevity, wealth and happiness. This god receives certain credits, such as being one of the Chinese philosophers who could live without eating (breatharian). Moreover, he is the only god who was said to have the ability to resurrect the dead. Fukurokuju is characterized by the size of his head, being almost as large as the size of his whole body, and

1496-408: A religious function, most often Buddhist , but sometimes Taoist , and were often located in or near viharas . The pagoda traces its origins to the stupa , while its design was developed in ancient India . Chinese pagodas ( Chinese : 塔 ; pinyin : Tǎ ) are a traditional part of Chinese architecture . In addition to religious use, since ancient times Chinese pagodas have been praised for

1584-532: A signifier of good luck. It is known that these deities mostly have their origins as ancient gods of fortune from religions popular in Japan: from Mahayana Buddhism (Benzaiten, Bishamonten, Daikokuten) which came to Japan from China but originated in India, and from Chinese Taoism (Fukurokuju, Hotei, Jurojin); except for one (Ebisu) who has a native Japanese ancestry. These gods have been recognized as such for over

1672-454: A thousand years. In the beginning, these gods were worshiped by merchants as the first two (Ebisu and Daikokuten) were gods of business and trade. Subsequently, other classes of Japanese society looked for gods that could correspond with their professions: Benzaiten as the patron of the arts, Fukurokuju as the patron of the sciences, and so on. In ancient times, these gods were worshiped separately, but this rarely happens today – only when it

1760-609: Is Beijing's Yonghe Temple , which was the residence of Yongzheng Emperor before he ascended the throne. It was donated for use as a lamasery after his death in 1735. Examples of Han dynasty era tower architecture predating Buddhist influence and the full-fledged Chinese pagoda can be seen in the four pictures below. Michael Loewe writes that during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) period, multi-storied towers were erected for religious purposes, as astronomical observatories , as watchtowers , or as ornate buildings that were believed to attract

1848-509: Is a performance over time that combines any number of instruments, objects, and art within a predefined or less well-defined structure, some of which can be improvised. Performance art may be scripted, unscripted, random, or carefully organized—even audience participation may occur. John Cage is regarded by many as a performance artist rather than a composer, although he preferred the latter term. He did not compose for traditional ensembles. Cage's composition Living Room Music , composed in 1940,

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1936-403: Is a quartet for unspecified instruments, really non-melodic objects, that can be found in the living room of a typical house, hence the title. The applied arts are the application of design and decoration to everyday, functional objects to make them aesthetically pleasing. The applied arts include fields such as industrial design , illustration , and commercial art. The term "applied art"

2024-411: Is called a choreographer. Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social , cultural , aesthetic , artistic , and moral constraints and range from functional movement (such as folk dance ) to codified virtuoso techniques such as ballet . In sports: gymnastics, figure skating , and synchronized swimming are dance disciplines. In martial arts, " kata " is compared to dances. Music

2112-666: Is conducive to involvement in more traditional art forms. In 2011, the National Endowment of the Arts included video games in its definition of a "work of art", and the Smithsonian American Art Museum presented an exhibit titled The Art of the Video Game in 2012. Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of art. Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or

2200-445: Is defined as an art form whose medium is a combination of sounds. Though scholars agree that music generally consists of a few core elements , their exact definitions are debated. Commonly identified aspects include pitch (which governs melody and harmony), duration (including rhythm and tempo ), intensity (including dynamics), and timbre . Though considered a cultural universal , definitions of music vary wildly throughout

2288-466: Is found in Hinduism , as she comes from the Hindu goddess Saraswati . She is the only female Fukujin in the modern grouping, and may be named in various ways: Benzaiten (弁才天), Benten (弁天), Bentensama (弁天様), or Benzaitennyo (弁才天女). When she was adapted from Buddhism , she was given the attributes of financial fortune, talent, beauty and music among others. Often, her figure appears with a Torii . She

2376-596: Is literally "acquaintance with letters", as in the first sense given in the Oxford English Dictionary . The noun "literature" comes from the Latin word littera , meaning "an individual written character ( letter )." The term has generally come to identify a collection of writings , which in Western culture are mainly prose (both fiction and non-fiction), drama, and poetry. In much, if not all, of

2464-471: Is often categorized as the performing arts of music, the word itself is Italian for "works", because opera combines artistic disciplines into a singular artistic experience. In a traditional opera, the work uses the following: the sets, costumes, acting, the libretto , singers and an orchestra. The composer Richard Wagner recognized the fusion of so many disciplines into a single work of opera, exemplified by his cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen ("The Ring of

2552-617: Is referred to as a drafter , draftswoman , or draughtsman . Drawing can be used to create art used in cultural industries such as illustrations , comics, and animation. Comics are often called the "ninth art" ( le neuvième art ) in Francophone scholarship, adding to the traditional "Seven Arts". Painting is considered to be a form of self-expression. Drawing, gesture (as in gestural painting ), composition , narration (as in narrative art ), or abstraction (as in abstract art ), among other aesthetic modes, may serve to manifest

2640-512: Is represented as a smart, beautiful woman with all the aforementioned attributes. She carries a biwa , a Japanese traditional lute-like instrument, and is normally accompanied by a white snake. She is the patron of artists, writers, dancers, and geisha , among others. Considered the incarnation of the southern pole star (南極星 "nankyokusei"), Juroujin (寿老人) is the god of the elderly and of longevity in Japanese Buddhist mythology. It

2728-446: Is represented wearing traditional Chinese costumes. He normally carries a cane in one hand and in the other a scroll with writings about the world. He is usually accompanied by a turtle, a crow or a deer, animals that are frequently used in Japan to symbolize a long life. It is also said that he likes to play chess , and hence is the patron of chess players. The characteristics of Fukurokuju and Jurōjin overlap as they both trace back to

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2816-535: Is required for the god to act on behalf of the applicant. The Seven Gods of Fortune started being mentioned as a collective in the year 1420 in Fushimi, in order to imitate the processions of the daimyōs , the feudal lords of pre-modern Japan. It is said that the Buddhist priest Tenkai selected these gods after speaking with the shōgun he served, Iemitsu Tokugawa , at the order of seeking whoever possessed

2904-401: Is said that the legendary Juroujin is based on a real person who lived in ancient times. He was approximately 1.82 meters tall with a very long head. Besides his distinctive skull, he is represented with a long white beard, riding a deer, and is often also accompanied by a 1500-year-old crane and a tortoise, as symbols of his affinity with long lives. In addition, he is usually represented under

2992-573: Is that local colour is defined by an outline (a contemporary equivalent is the cartoon). This is evident, for example, in the art of India , Tibet , and Japan . Islamic art avoids the representation of living beings, particularly humans and other animals, in religious contexts. It instead expresses religious ideas through calligraphy and geometrical designs. In the Middle Ages, liberal arts were taught in European universities as part of

3080-786: Is the Liaodi Pagoda. In April 2007 a new wooden pagoda Tianning Temple of Changzhou was opened to the public, the tallest in China, standing 154 m (505 ft). Chinese iconography is noticeable in Chinese and other East Asian pagoda architectures. Also prominent is Buddhist iconography such as the image of the Shakyamuni and Gautama Buddha in the abhaya mudra . In an article on Buddhist elements in Han dynasty art, Wu Hung suggests that in these temples, Buddhist symbolism

3168-514: Is the art and science of designing buildings and structures . A wider definition would include the design of the built environment, from the macro level of urban planning , urban design , and landscape architecture , to the micro level of creating furniture. The word architecture comes from the Latin architectūra , from architectus "master builder, director of works." Architectural design usually must address feasibility and cost for

3256-464: Is the branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound, and spectacle. In addition to the standard narrative dialogue style, theatre takes such forms as opera, ballet, mime, kabuki , classical Indian dance , and Chinese opera . Areas exist in which artistic works incorporate multiple artistic fields, such as film, opera, and performance art. While opera

3344-417: Is the god of commerce and prosperity, and he is sometimes considered the patron of cooks, farmers and bankers, and a protector of crops . He is also considered a demon hunter − legend says that the god Daikokuten hung a sacred talisman on the branch of a tree in his garden and, by using this as a trap, was able to catch a demon. This god is characterized by his smile, his short legs and the hat on his head. He

3432-446: Is the patron of fishermen and therefore is represented with fishermen's costumes such as a typical hat, a fishing rod in his right hand and a fish that can be either a carp , a hake , a codfish or a sea bass, or any large fish, in general, that symbolize abundance in meals (such as a feast or banquet). It is now common to see his figure in restaurants where fish is served in great quantities or in household kitchens. Daikokuten (大黒天)

3520-708: Is the principal product. Performing arts are distinguished by this performance element in contrast with disciplines such as visual and literary arts, where the product is an object that does not require a performance to be observed and experienced. Each discipline in the performing arts is temporal in nature, meaning the product is performed over a period of time. Products are broadly categorized as being either repeatable (for example, by script or score) or improvised for each performance. Artists who participate in these arts in front of an audience are called performers , including actors , magicians , comedians , dancers , musicians , and singers . Performing arts are also supported by

3608-404: Is the protector of those who follow the rules and behave appropriately. As the patron of fighters, he is represented dressed in armour and a helmet, and is often seen carrying a pagoda . He also acts as the protector of holy sites and important places and wields a spear to fight against the evil spirits. He is usually depicted in illustrations with a hoop of fire. Benzaiten's (弁才天 or 弁財天) origin

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3696-440: Is used in distinction to the fine arts , where the latter is defined as arts that aim to produce objects that are beautiful or provide intellectual stimulation but have no primary everyday function. In practice, the two often overlap. Video games are multidisciplinary works that include non-controversially artistic elements such as visuals and sound, as well as an emergent experience from the nature of their interactivity. Within

3784-639: Is usually depicted with a bag full of valuable objects. Daikokuten's popular imagery originated as a syncretic conflation of the Buddhist death deity Mahākāla with the Shinto deity Ōkuninushi . The Japanese name Daikoku is a direct translation of the Sanskrit name Mahākāla which means "Great Blackness". Per the Butsuzōzui compendium of 1690 (reprinted and expanded in 1796), Daikoku can also manifest as

3872-707: The Impressionists ). Some art movements themselves were named disparagingly by critics, with the name later adopted as a badge of honour by the artists of the style with the original negative meaning forgotten, e.g. Impressionism and Cubism . Artists have had an uneasy relationship with their critics. Artists usually need positive opinions from critics for their work to be viewed and purchased. Many variables determine judgement of art such as aesthetics, cognition or perception. Aesthetic, pragmatic, expressive, formalist, relativist, processional, imitation, ritual, cognition, mimetic, and postmodern theories, are some of

3960-537: The Northern Wei and Sui dynasties (386–618) experiments began with the construction of brick and stone pagodas. Even at the end of the Sui, however, wood was still the most common material. For example, Emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty (reigned 581–604) once issued a decree for all counties and prefectures to build pagodas to a set of standard designs, however since they were all built of wood none have survived. Only

4048-581: The Songyue Pagoda has survived, a circular-based pagoda built out of brick in 523 AD. The earliest extant brick pagoda is the 40-metre-tall Songyue Pagoda in Dengfeng Country, Henan . This curved, circle-based pagoda was built in 523 during the Northern Wei dynasty , and has survived for 15 centuries. Much like the later pagodas found during the following Tang dynasty, this temple featured tiers of eaves encircling its frame, as well as

4136-594: The Trivium , an introductory curriculum involving grammar , rhetoric , and logic , and of the Quadrivium , a curriculum involving the "mathematical arts" of arithmetic , geometry , music, and astronomy . In modern academia , the arts can be grouped with, or as a subset of, the humanities . The arts have been classified as seven: painting, architecture, sculpture, literature, music, performing , and cinema. Some view literature, painting, sculpture, and music as

4224-446: The builder , as well as function and aesthetics for the user . In modern usage, architecture is the art and discipline of creating or inferring an implied or apparent plan for a complex object or system . Some types of architecture manipulate space, volume, texture, light, shadow, or abstract elements, to achieve pleasing aesthetics. Architectural works may be seen as cultural and political symbols , or works of art. The role of

4312-405: The video game community , debates surround whether video games should be classified as an art form and whether game developers — AAA or indie —should be classified as artists. Hideo Kojima , a video game designer considered a gaming auteur , argued in 2006 that video games are a type of service rather than an art form. In the social sciences, cultural economists show how playing video games

4400-568: The 1783 edition of the Butsuzōzui compendium , Kichijōten replaces Fukurokuju as one of the Fukujin. Kichijōten's iconography is distinguished from the other Fukujin goddesses by the Nyoihōju gem (如意宝珠) in her hand. When Kichijōten replaces Fukurokuju, and Daikoku is regarded in feminine form, all three of the Hindu Tridevi goddesses are then represented among the seven Fukujin. During

4488-518: The Chinese Taoist deity Nánjílǎorén (南极老人) , which is why Fukurokuju's position is sometimes granted instead to the goddess Kichijōten , as in the Butsuzōzui compendium of 1783. Kichijōten (吉祥天), a Fukujin goddess is also known as Kisshōten or Kisshoutennyo (吉祥天女), and is adapted via Buddhism from the Hindu goddess Lakshmi . Kisshōten has the traits of beauty, happiness, and fertility. In

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4576-633: The Nibelung"). He did not use the term opera for his works, but instead Gesamtkunstwerk ("synthesis of the arts"), sometimes referred to as "music drama" in English, emphasizing the literary and theatrical components, which were as important as the music. Classical ballet is another form that emerged in the 17th century in which orchestral music is combined with dance. Other works in the late 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries have fused other disciplines in creative ways, such as performance art. Performance art

4664-536: The architect, though changing, has been central to the design and implementation of pleasingly built environments, in which people live. Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials (including clay ), which may take forms such as pottery , tile , figurines , sculpture, and tableware . While some ceramic products are considered fine art , others are considered decorative , industrial , or applied art objects. Ceramics may also be considered artefacts in archaeology . Ceramic art can be made by one person or by

4752-421: The arts and politics, particularly between various kinds of art and power , occurs across history and cultures . As they respond to events and politics, the arts take on political as well as social dimensions, becoming themselves a focus of controversy and a force of political and social change . One observation is that an artist has a free spirit . For instance Pushkin , a well-regarded writer, attracted

4840-693: The arts include: visual arts (including architecture , ceramics , drawing , filmmaking , painting , photography , and sculpting ), literary arts (including fiction , drama , poetry , and prose ), and performing arts (including dance , music , and theatre ). They can employ skill and imagination to produce objects and performances , convey insights and experiences , and construct new environments and spaces. The arts can refer to common, popular, or everyday practices as well as more sophisticated, systematic, or institutionalized ones. They can be discrete and self-contained or combine and interweave with other art forms, such as combining artwork with

4928-582: The audacity of his sensual fancy, and in his propensity for making fun of major and minor tyrants." Artists use their work to express their political views and promote social change, from influencing negatively in the form of hate speech to influencing positively through artivism . Governments use art, or propaganda , to promote their own agendas. Pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand , Cambodia , Nepal , China , Japan , Korea , Myanmar , Vietnam , and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have

5016-409: The central four arts, of which the others are derivative; drama is literature with acting, dance is music expressed through motion , and song is music with literature and voice . Film is sometimes called the "eighth" and comics the "ninth art" in Francophone scholarship, adding to the traditional "Seven Arts". Cultural fields like gastronomy are only sometimes considered as arts. Architecture

5104-656: The domination of wooden pagoda construction. The famous Tang dynasty poet, Du Mu , once wrote: 480 Buddhist temples of the Southern Dynasties, uncountable towers and pagodas stand in the misty rain. The oldest standing fully wooden pagoda in China today is the Pagoda of Fugong Temple in Ying County, Shanxi , built in the 11th century during the Song/ Liao dynasty (see Song architecture ). During

5192-543: The earliest brick and stone pagodas was a three-storey construction built in the (first) Jin dynasty (266–420) , by Wang Jun of Xiangyang . However, it is now destroyed. Brick and stone went on to dominate Tang , Song , Liao and Jin dynasty pagoda construction. An example is the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (652 AD), built during the early Tang dynasty. The Porcelain Pagoda of Nanjing has been one of

5280-518: The efforts of Buddhist missionaries , pilgrims, rulers, and ordinary devotees to honor Buddhist relics. Japan has a total of 22 five-storied timber pagodas constructed before 1850. The earliest styles of Chinese pagodas were square-base and circular-base, with octagonal -base towers emerging in the 5th–10th centuries. The highest Chinese pagoda from the pre-modern age is the Liaodi Pagoda of Kaiyuan Monastery, Dingxian, Hebei , completed in

5368-411: The expression of Christian themes due to the overlap of church and state . Eastern art has generally worked in style akin to Western medieval art , namely a concentration on surface patterning and local colour (meaning the plain colour of an object, such as basic red for a red robe, rather than the modulations of that colour brought about by light, shade, and reflection). A characteristic of this style

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5456-417: The expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Paintings can be a wide variety of topics, such as photographic , abstract, narrative, symbolistic ( Symbolist art ), emotive ( Expressionism ), or political in nature ( Artivism ). Some modern painters incorporate different materials, such as sand , cement, straw , wood, or strands of hair, for their artwork texture . Examples of this are

5544-611: The favor of spirits, deities, and immortals . Pagodas built during the Sui and Tang dynasty usually had a square base, with a few exceptions such as the Daqin Pagoda: Pagodas of the Five Dynasties, Northern and Southern Song, Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties incorporated many new styles, with a greater emphasis on hexagonal and octagonal bases for pagodas: Pagodas in the Ming and Qing dynasties generally inherited

5632-406: The field of criticism is between historical criticism and evaluation, a form of art history , and contemporary criticism of work by living artists. Despite perceptions that criticism is a lower-risk activity than making art, opinions of current art are liable to corrections with the passage of time. Critics of the past can be ridiculed for dismissing artists now venerated (like the early work of

5720-523: The finial into a lightning rod . Wooden pagodas possess certain characteristics thought to resist earthquake damage. These include the friction damping and sliding effect of the complex wooden dougong joints, the structural isolation of floors, the effects of wide eaves analogous to a balancing toy, and the Shinbashira phenomenon that the center column is bolted to the rest of the superstructure. Pagodas traditionally have an odd number of levels,

5808-695: The first three days of the New Year the Seven Lucky Gods are said to pilot through the heavens the Takarabune or Treasure Ship. A picture of the ship forms an essential part of traditional Japanese New Year celebrations. The arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices of creative expression , storytelling , and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing, and being in an extensive range of media . Both dynamic and

5896-470: The irritation of Russian officialdom and particularly the Tsar , since he "instead of being a good servant of the state in the rank and file of the administration and extolling conventional virtues in his vocational writings (if write he must), composed extremely arrogant and extremely independent and extremely wicked verse in which dangerous freedom of thought was evident in the novelty of his versification, in

5984-628: The many theories to criticize and appreciate art. Art criticism and appreciation can be subjective based on personal preference toward aesthetics and form, or on the elements and principles of design and by social and cultural acceptance. Arts in education is a field of educational research and practice informed by investigations into learning through arts experiences. In this context, the arts can include performing arts education (dance, drama, music), literature and poetry, storytelling , visual arts education in film, craft , design, digital art , media and photography. A strong relationship between

6072-530: The most famous brick and stone pagoda in China throughout history. The Zhou dynasty started making the ancient pagodas about 3,500 years ago. Pagodas, in keeping with the tradition of the White Horse Temple , were generally placed in the center of temples until the Sui and Tang dynasties. During the Tang, the importance of the main hall was elevated and the pagoda was moved beside the hall, or out of

6160-521: The original central-pagoda tradition established 1000 years earlier by the White Horse Temple in 67. Although they were built outside of the main temple itself, large pagodas in the tradition of the past were still built. This includes the two Ming dynasty pagodas of Famen Temple and the Chongwen Pagoda in Jingyang of Shaanxi . A prominent, later example of converting a palace to a temple

6248-458: The perfect virtues: longevity, fortune, popularity, sincerity, kindness, dignity, and magnanimity. Shortly after, a famous artist of the time, Kano Yasunobu, was ordained to portray these gods for the first time. From the period of the gods Izanami and Izanagi , Ebisu (恵比寿) is the only one whose origins are purely Japanese. He is the god of prosperity and wealth in business, and of plenitude and abundance in crops, cereals and food in general. He

6336-400: The services of other artists or essential workers, such as songwriting and stagecraft . Performers adapt their appearance with tools such as costumes and stage makeup . Dance generally refers to human movement , either used as a form of expression or presented in a social, spiritual , or performance setting. Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who does this

6424-418: The spectacular views they offer, and many classical poems attest to the joy of scaling pagodas. The oldest and tallest pagodas were built of wood, but most that survived were built of brick or stone. Some pagodas are solid with no interior. Hollow pagodas have no higher floors or rooms, but the interior often contains an altar or a smaller pagoda, as well as a series of staircases for the visitor to climb to see

6512-405: The temple compound altogether. In the early Tang, Daoxuan wrote a Standard Design for Buddhist Temple Construction in which the main hall replaced the pagoda as the center of the temple. The design of temples was also influenced by the use of traditional Chinese residences as shrines, after they were philanthropically donated by the wealthy or the pious. In such pre-configured spaces, building

6600-606: The term in the 1960s referred to a strict and focused practice of idea-based art that defied traditional visual criteria associated with the visual arts in its presentation as text. Through its association with the Young British Artists and the Turner Prize during the 1990s, its popular usage, particularly in the United Kingdom, developed as a synonym for all contemporary art that does not practice

6688-408: The theory of beauty. A goal of art criticism is the pursuit of a rational basis for art appreciation but it is questionable whether such criticism can transcend prevailing sociopolitical circumstances. The variety of artistic movements has resulted in a division of art criticism into different disciplines, which may each use different criteria for their judgements. The most common division in

6776-629: The traditional skills of painting and sculpture. Drawing is a means of making an image using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques. It generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving a tool across a surface. Common tools are graphite pencils , pen and ink, inked brushes , wax coloured pencils , crayons , charcoals , pastels , and markers . Digital tools with similar effects are also used. The main techniques used in drawing are line drawing, hatching , cross-hatching, random hatching, scribbling, stippling , and blending. An artist who excels in drawing

6864-418: The view from an opening on one side of each tier. Most have between three and 13 tiers (almost always an odd number) and the classic gradual tiered eaves. In some countries, the term may refer to other religious structures. In Vietnam and Cambodia, due to French translation, the English term pagoda is a more generic term referring to a place of worship , although pagoda is not an accurate word to describe

6952-597: The visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts . Durable sculptural processes originally used carving (the removal of material) and modelling (the addition of material, such as clay), in stone , metal, ceramics , wood, and other materials, but shifts in sculptural processes have led to almost complete freedom of materials and processes following modernism . A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or moulded or cast . Literature (also known as literary arts or language arts )

7040-472: The word techne . Ancient Greek art brought the veneration of the animal form and the development of equivalent skills to show musculature, poise, beauty, and anatomically correct proportions. Ancient Roman art depicted gods as idealized humans, shown with characteristic distinguishing features, e.g. Zeus ' thunderbolt. In Byzantine and Gothic art of the Middle Ages , the dominant church insisted on

7128-406: The works of Jean Dubuffet or Anselm Kiefer . Photography as an art form refers to photographs that are created in accordance with the creative vision of the photographer. Art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism , which provides a visual account of news events, and commercial photography, the primary focus of which is to advertise products or services. Sculpture is the branch of

7216-496: The world as they are based on diverse views of nature , the supernatural, and humanity. Music is differentiated into composition and performance, while musical improvisation may be regarded as an intermediary tradition. Music can be divided into genres and subgenres, although the dividing lines and relationships between genres are subtle, open to individual interpretation, and controversial. Theatre or theater (from Greek theatron ( θέατρον ); from theasthai , "behold" )

7304-450: The world, artistic linguistic expression can be oral as well and include such genres as epic , legend , myth , ballad , other forms of oral poetry, and folktales . Comics, the combination of drawings or other visual arts with narrating literature, are called the "ninth art" ( le neuvième art ) in Francophone scholarship. Performing arts comprise dance, music, theatre, opera , mime , and other art forms in which human performance

7392-407: The world. The arts are considered various practices or objects done by people with skill, creativity, and imagination across cultures and history, viewed as a group. These activities include painting, sculpture, music, theatre, literature, and more. Art refers to the way of doing or applying human creative skills, typically in visual form. In Ancient Greece , art and craft were referred to by

7480-487: The written word in comics . They can also develop or contribute to some particular aspect of a more complex art form, as in cinematography . By definition, the arts themselves are open to being continually redefined. The practice of modern art , for example, is a testament to the shifting boundaries, improvisation and experimentation, reflexive nature, and self-criticism or questioning that art and its conditions of production, reception, and possibility can undergo. As both

7568-434: The year 1055 AD under Emperor Renzong of Song and standing at a total height of 84 m (275 ft). Although it no longer stands, the tallest pre-modern pagoda in Chinese history was the 100-metre-tall wooden pagoda (330 ft) of Chang'an , built by Emperor Yang of Sui , and possibly the short-lived 6th century Yongning Pagoda ( 永宁宝塔 ) of Luoyang at roughly 137 metres. The tallest pre-modern pagoda still standing

7656-529: Was extended by a priest of dubious aesthetic, who actually was a manifestation of Miroku . Miroku was the patron of those who could not be saved by the beliefs of Buddha , and Hotei was later perceived and accepted by the Japanese as a second Miroku. The god Fukurokuju (福禄寿) also has his origins in China . It is believed that he used to be a hermit during the Chinese Song dynasty , distinguished for being

7744-478: Was fused with native Chinese traditions into a unique system of symbolism. Some believed reverence at pagodas could bring luck to students taking the Chinese civil service examinations . When a pagoda of Yihuang County in Fuzhou collapsed in 1210, local inhabitants believed the disaster correlated with the recent failure of many exam candidates in the prefectural examinations The pagoda was rebuilt in 1223 and had

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