Japanese Art

The videos I chose to watch were "The Great Wave" and "Buddhism". In "The Great Wave" it talked about how waves have become an artistic icon in Japanese culture. The wave symbol is now found in cartoons and politics as well as other various forms of life. In the second video the history of Buddhism is explored. The video goes into detail on how Buddhism relates to the art world. The reason I was drawn to choose these videos is because I am Christian and I wanted to see how Buddhism is reflected in art. Also, the wave symbol is often seen in Japanese art, and I wanted to understand the reason behind this. To further my knowledge behind the icon of the waves, the video stated that it originated as just a sketch. However, it did not go into detail on why. In the drawing M. Fuji we see a great expression of waves. Certain individuals believed the monks and Buddhists were part of a cult. The Buddhism video went along very well with the reading. It described in further detail the history of Buddhism. Both of the videos relate to the reading. In the text the history of Japanese art culture and Buddhism were covered. The videos were helpful because they put into visual perspective why was read about in the text. I did enjoy both of these videos more so than the text. I felt the videos went into more detail as I previously stated that the text. I also believe the videos were easier to follow. I believe the videos provided us with more examples than the book did.