In the modern age when expressions are diversified, the boundaries between Japanese painting and other paintings are becoming not so clear. The big difference is artist’s materials.

Pigments of Japanese paintings are powders of natural minerals or colored glass, colored powders of crystal or calcite, or gofun powder which is made from shell of oysters or scallops.

Pigments are sandy, so nikawa which is collagen of animals and fish is mixed as adhesive and make paint. What you paint on Japanese paper or picture silk using those paint, it is called Japanese painting.

It takes time and effort, but brilliance due to the roughness and specific gravity of the paint particles, the resonant of pigments and water, and the difference between matieres are attractive.