Arts
- Comic book
- Adam L. Kern has suggested that kibyoshi , picture books from the late 18th century, may have been the world's first comic books. These graphical narratives share with modern manga humorous, satirical, and romantic themes. [1] Some works were mass-produced as serials using woodblock printing. [2]
- Folding hand fan
- In ancient Japan, the first hand fans were oval and rigid fans, influenced greatly by Chinese fans. The earliest visual depiction of fans in Japan dates back to the 6th century AD, with burial tomb paintings showed drawings of fans. The folding fan was invented in Japan, with dates ranging from the 6th to 9th centuries and later exported to East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the West. Such a flourishing trade involving Japanese hand fans existed in the Ming dynasty times, when folding fans almost absolutely displaced the old rigid type in China. [3] [4]
- Manga
- The history of manga has origins in scrolls dating back to the 12th century, and it is believed they represent the basis for the right-to-left reading style. During the Edo period (1603–1867), Toba Ehon embedded the concept of manga. [5] The word itself first came into common usage in 1798, [6] with the publication of works such as Santō Kyōden's picturebook Shiji no yukikai (1798), [7] [8] and in the early 19th century with such works as Aikawa Minwa's Manga hyakujo (1814) and the Hokusai Manga books (1814–1834). [9] [1]
- Revolving stage
- Invented for the Kabuki theatre in Japan in the 18th century, the revolving stage was introduced into Western theater at the Residenz theatre in Munich in 1896 under the influence of japonism fever. [10]
Film and animation
- Anime
- Japanese animation, or anime, today widely popular both in Japan and abroad, began in the early 20th century.
- Man with No Name
- A stock character that originated with Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), where the archetype was first portrayed by Toshirō Mifune. The archetype was adapted by Sergio Leone for his Spaghetti Western Dollars Trilogy (1964–1966), with Clint Eastwood playing the role of the "Man with No Name" in Japan. The first depiction of mecha Super Robots being piloted by a user from within a cockpit was introduced in the manga and anime series Mazinger Z by Go Nagai in 1972. [11]
- Postcyberpunk animation/film
- The first postcyberpunk media work in an animated/film format was Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex in 2002. It has been called "the most interesting, sustained postcyberpunk media work in existence." [12]
- Steampunk animation
- The earliest examples of steampunk animation are Hayao Miyazaki's anime works Future Boy Conan (1978), [13] Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) [14] and Castle in the Sky (1986). [15] [16]
- Superflat
- A postmodern art form, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime . [17]
Architecture
- Japanese castle
- Fortresses constructed primarily out of stone and wood used for military defence in strategic locations. [18]
- Metabolism
- A post-war Japanese architectural movement developed by a wide variety of Japanese architects including Kiyonori Kikutake, Kisho Kurokawa and Fumihiko Maki, Metabolism aimed to fuse ideas about architectural megastructures with those of organic biological growth. [19]
- Tahōtō
- Tahōtō is a form of Japanese pagoda found primarily at Esoteric Shingon and Tendai school Buddhist temples. Unlike most pagodas, it has two stories. [20]
- Capsule hotel
- The first capsule hotel in the world opened in 1979 and was the Capsule Inn Osaka, located in the Umeda district of Osaka, Japan and designed by Kisho Kurokawa. From there, it spread to other cities within Japan. Since then, the concept has further spread to various other territories, including Belgium, China, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, and Poland.
