Japanese Studies

The Art of Japan  http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks3.html
Part of a larger web site devoted to Non-European Art. The pages are maintained by Chris Witcombe, Professor of Art History in the Department of Art History at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Organized in part by period from prehistory to modern, it covers the traditional visual arts and photography. There are a large number of ukiyoe links, organized both topically and by artist's name. There is also a section on Japanese art and Western influence.

emuseum -- National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties of the Tokyo National Museum  http://www.emuseum.jp/
Images and texts include Japanese paintings from the 11th-13th centuries and 15th-19th centuries, Chinese paintings from the Song and Yuan dynasties, Buddhist sutras and Chinese classics, swords, historical and classical Japanese documents, calligraphy, and textiles. Site is not searchable. To use this website, run mouse over images to read pop-up menu that explains contents. "Tsukaikata" button at bottom right of homepage will take you to a page with website navigation directions. Includes Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and French descriptions, in addition to English.

Asian Arts  http://www.asianart.com/index.html
The on-line journal for the study and exhibition of the arts of Asia; includes information on associations, exhibitions, articles and galleries.

Arts of China Consortium  http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/html/chinese/index.html
This is part of the East Asia WWW Virtual Library and provides information on symposia, conferences, grants and other items of interest to graduate students of Chinese and Japanese art history. Includes a directory of graduate students interested in East Asian art history. Maintained by Nixi Cura.

Hikone Butsudan  http://dspace.apu.ac.jp/dspace/handle/123456789/166
This traditional craft website focuses on the production of butsudan (household Buddhist altars) in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Butsudan are very expensive items of furniture that make use of a wide range of traditional woodworking, lacquer, and metalwork techniques of uniquely high standards. Website provides detailed text, pictures, and diagrams.

Image Database of the Kanō Collection http://www2.library.tohoku.ac.jp/kano/kano_top.html
狩野文庫画像データベース
The Kanō Collection is the library formed by Kōkichi Kanō (1865-1942), a famous philosopher and educator of the Meiji era. The collection consists of about 108,000 items of classical books, scrolls, documents and art objects on all subjects including philosophy, fine arts and military science, and is known world-wide as an encyclopedic treasure-house of enormous value for research of the Edo period. This database consists of about 16,700 colored images from about 1,180 illustrated items (color prints, maps, etc.) among the microfilmed version of classical Japanese books and documents.

National Art Center, Tokyo  http://www.nact.jp/
The NAC opened in January 2007. Its collection includes that of the now defunct Art Catalog Library, Japan, a special library that had over 20,000 catalogs of art exhibitions held at museums, galleries, and department stores in Japan.

Nichibunken Database of Japanese Art  http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/graphicversion/dbase/japane.htm
日本美術データベース
Includes images of over 4000 works of art held in museums in Russia and Hungary; users must register prior to use.

Universes in Universe: Japan: Arts  http://universes-in-universe.de/asia/jpn/english.htm
An indexing site that has links to all varieties of art in Japan.  There is also a museum guide and listing of current exhibitions and publications.

The Virtual Museum of Traditional Japanese Arts  http://web-japan.org/museum
This site produced for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Kodansha International Ltd. Covers painting, sculpture, ukiyoe, architecture and gardens, crafts, performing arts, pastimes and martial arts. Use the site map to navigate.

World Art Treasures -- Japanese Art  http://www.bergerfoundation.ch/wat1/frameset?pg=japon&ref=First_japan82
This site has a limited selection of excellent quality pictures of Japanese Buddhist art which can be enlarged and zoomed in on.  It also includes a link to A Time Line History at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  This includes images and commentary of Japanese art  from Jomon to the present.