The westernization of Japanese painting: the rise and consolidation of yōga

Abstract

The present article aims to delve into the evolution and peak of yoga in relation to the profound changes undergone by Japanese society throughout the 19th century, which were considered to a large extent to be a process of Westernization of the country. In this regard, yoga must not be understood as the result of a mixture of Japanese tradition and Western modernity, but rather as the superimposition of the latter over the former. It is precisely there wherein its historical singularity lies: yoga was a Japanese pictorial movement whose goal was, paradoxically, to distance itself as much as possible from the Japanese artistic world to embrace the European one. In order to carry out the analysis, the works of the three most influential artists with regards to the evolution of this movement (Shiba Kōkan, Takahashi Yūichi and Kuroda Seiki) are taken into account along with the historical and academic context under which they produced their works.