CULTURE

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Japanese language

The Japanese language has always played a significant role in Japanese culture. The language is spoken mainly in Japan but also in some Japanese emigrant communities around the world. It is an agglutinative language and the sound inventory of Japanese is relatively small but has a lexically distinct pitch-accent system.
Japanese is written with a combination of three scripts: hiragana, derived from the Chinese cursive script, katakana, derived as a shorthand from Chinese characters, and kanji, imported from China.
Painting
Painting has been an art in Japan for a very long time: the brush is a traditional writing tool, and the extension of that to its use as an artist's tool was probably natural.

Sculpture

Traditional Japanese sculptures mainly consisted of Buddhist images, such as Tathagata, Bodhisattva and Myō-ō. The oldest sculpture in Japan is a wooden statue of Amitābha at the Zenkō-ji temple. Wood has traditionally been used as the chief material in Japan, along with the traditional Japanese architectures. Statues are often lacquered, gilded, or brightly painted, although there are little traces on the surfaces. Bronze and other metals are also used. Other materials, such as stone and pottery, have had extremely important roles in the plebeian beliefs.

Theatre of Japan

The four traditional theatres from Japan are noh, kyogen, kabuki and bunraku. Noh had its origins in the union of the sarugaku with music and dance made by Kanami and Zeami Motokiyo.Among the characteristic aspects of it are the masks, costumes and the stylized gestures, sometimes accompanied by a fan that can represent other objects. The noh programs are presented in alternation with the ones of kyogen, traditionally in number of five, but currently in groups of three.

Architecture


Japanese architecture has as long a history as any other aspect of Japanese culture. Originally heavily influenced by Chinese architecture, it also develops many differences and aspects which are indigenous to India.
Some modern architects, such as Yoshio Taniguchi and Tadao Ando are known for their amalgamation of Japanese traditional and Western architectural influences.

Sports

Baseball, football (soccer) and other popular western sports were imported to Japan in the Meiji period. These sports are commonly practiced in schools along with traditional martial arts.
The most popular professional sports in today's Japan are Sumo, baseball and football (soccer). In addition, many semi-professional organizations, such as volleyball, basketball and rugby union, are sponsored by private companies.

Music

The modern Japanese music scene includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional and modern. The word for music in Japanese is ongaku, combining the kanji ("on" sound) with the kanji ("gaku" fun, comfort). Local music often appears at karaoke venues, which is on lease from the record labels.

Traditional music

Two of the oldest forms of traditional Japanese music are shōmyō,Buddhist chanting, and gagaku,orchestral court music, both of which date to the Nara and Heian periods.

Traditional pop music

After the Meiji Restoration introduced Western musical instruction, a bureaucrat named Izawa Shuji compiled songs like "Auld Lang Syne" and commissioned songs using a pentatonic melody.[citation needed] . Western music, especially military marches, soon became popular in Japan. Two major forms of music that developed during this period were shoka, which was composed to bring western music to schools, and gunka, which are military marches with some Japanese elements.