Japanese Decorative Arts
The Japanese decorative arts include the making of pottery, porcelains, lacquers, and textiles. It is for such works that Japan is perhaps best known.
The earliest examples of Japanese artistic expression are earthenware vessels called jomon  (rope-patterned) and the later, but still archaic, yayoi  pottery. Some jomon specimens may date as far back as 6000 BC. The style continued until about the 2nd century BC, when it was supplanted by the more finely executed yayoi.
The process of making true porcelain was not introduced into Japan until the 16th century. Elegantly patterned products found favor with the nobility and court circles. By contrast, native rough pottery enjoyed great popularity in intellectual circles and was especially favored for use in the tea ceremony.
Many well-known painters also applied their skills to allied arts. Koetsu Honnami (1558­1637),famed for his calligraphy, or decorative writing, was also a gifted potter and lacquer designer. Kenzan Ogata (1663­1743) executed in pottery the designs of his brother Korin (1658­1716), who was renowned for bold decorative paintings.
The dry-lacquer technique was used not only for sculpture but also for decorative accessories such as trays, tables, small chests, containers for tea and candy, and sumptuously fitted picnic boxes. Sprinklings of gold and silver powder and burnished and cut-gold foil‹alone or combined with inlays of shell, mother-of-pearl, or metal‹provided a bold contrast to the red, black, brown, and green lacquer surfaces. The 18th- and 19th-century love of splendor and rich decoration was mirrored in handsomely brocaded silks favored by the court and clergy. The latter, under vows of poverty, cut brocades into small squares and pieced them together again so that their fine garments would simulate the patched clothing of leaner years. Even the simple folk designs worn by the poor reflected the taste of Japanese weavers.