no samurai battles or sieges thankfully :o

There is much more to Japanese history and fantasy then fighting and war. *Grin*

though they're lives in history revolved around war. Then again most people then were warlike, just look at the Aztecs :o

beautiful scene, love the details and the overall look as well. :)

I like the impasto-like textures of the horizontal brushstrokes that make up the sky, and the thin, high altitude clouds which are warmed up by the setting sun and teased into feathered edges by the wind. It gives the background an energetic windswept feel, strengthened by a lack of horizontal lines in the sky or branches which tend to look artificial.

It's a shame that most Asian history is glossed over in Western public education. My world history classes in high school were pretty lacking. I was fortunate enough to pick up much of the cultural and heritage bits from parents!

Notwithstanding the bitter blood between nations caused by the last 100 years, there's actually a lot of parallels between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean culture, going back to the goldern era of the Tang dynasty, 600-900AD. Japanese kimono share a common cultural root with Chinese hanzi and Korean hanbok. Japanese cherry blossoms share a common cultural root with Chinese plum blossoms. Even the well-known Japanese nihonto shape and technology was adopted from China through merchant trade in the 8th century.

Mythologically, there are many commonalities between spirits and creatures too! For example, the nine-tailed Chinese hulijing and Japanese kitsune creatures, or the two chimeras of hell being a horse-headed and ox-faced guardian.

It's fun stuff and I'm glad to see some of that make it's way to FA! I can't wait to snag something from you!

I am a huge fan of actual Japanese history and culture. I know a lot of it gets glossed over or even twisted by our western culture, so I try to dig deeper and find the real stuff. Right now, one of my favorite books is a collection of Japanese ghost stories. I love how not all of their ghosts or even demons are evil and that after enough time, even a toaster can come to life.

Yes! They have a lot of cool little spirits. Spirits in western culture are almost always universally bad and evil. I can't think of any good or benevolent ghosts or creatures in modern western mysticism and lore off the top of my head. Meanwhile, spirits in many Asian cultures can be good, neutral, or simply mischievous, or even self-serving and fickle, much like humans. There are lots of kooky and weird ones too, like Japanese kasa obake, which are adorable.

Western culture tends to apply a filter of "Eastern mysticism" and you get a lot of terribly ignorant stuff, like "Japanese swords are superior to all Western swords" or "Chinese martial arts are the best in the world". It's a sort of weird backhanded "positive" stereotype when I hear people say that kind of thing. I'm never sure what to say when someone tells me these things (I'm Chinese). It's really great to see people digging under stereotypes (positive or negative!) and getting into the meat of the stuff ^_^

It's a very wonderful commission! I'm glad it was shared on FA for others to enjoy too! The impasto-like textures really bring the feel of the kimono cloth alive

Again, Thank you SO much. We are both in love with this piece and can't wait to have it proudly displayed in our home.

You are welcome, it was my pleasure *Bows*

I particularly love the sense of peace you get from the background in this one, just lovely!

Thank you *Bows*