A Taste of Japan for Your Home

For the most part, the history of Japan is much like its language.  It seems rather simple in the initial stages of acquaintance.  However, it suddenly grows more complex and subtle the further one probes into the mysterious regions of idiom and thought.  Japan's history appears to be simple at first because it is smaller and its recorded history is shorter than its more ancient and larger neigbhor China.  It would be a great mistake to let these surface facts mislead a person who is genuinely interested in understanding Japan.

For centuries the scholars of both China and Japan were unaware of the division of academic disciplines which is so common in the history of the West.  East Asian scholars were at one and the same time scholars, philosophers, artists, poets, calligraphers, essayists, and often historians.  They did not intentionally concieve of their native culture as a unity because they could not imagine it ever being anything else.  This same feeling and viewpoint was naturally transferred throughout the culture of Japan, in particular, down to the ordinary people of the country for generations.  Therefore, Japanese culture (and much of other East Asian cultures) must be studied through all avenues of art, religion, and economic/social life.  It is for such reasons that Japanese home decor is something that takes times to understand properly.  One must know Japan to create the right atmosphere for personal taste!

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, feel free to visit my website at:  http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.