There is a slight breeze, the autumnal rust-colored wet leaves rustle on the almost bare branches. Rotting brown leaves are lying on the ground with a delicate tinge of mushroom. The last forgotten flowers appear here and there. Fog is rising from the calm blue surface of the lake in the valley. The peaks of the hills covered in coniferous forests are outlined in the distance with a delicate haze.

The technique of Japanese Ukijo-e block printing developed from the 17th century and it was most famous in the 18th century. "Ukijo" means the fleeting world and "e" means a picture. This involved a reaction to court art and the Chinese influence. The artists were supposed to create a typically Japanese style. They depicted landscape moods, legends, traditions, regular life, the customs of the middle classes and their self-indulgences.

Mystique

A restless mystical urban night. A distant dark sky. Trees, bushes, benches and statues play with frighteningly moving shadows in the darkest shades of green, brown and purple in a park. The empty grey streets with distant voices are lined with cold yellowish lights. Silver rays are reflected in the trembling surface of the river. And the imagination takes over.

The popularity of complicated hairstyles culminated in Japan in the Edo period (1600 – 1867). They used various hairpieces and padding. They stiffened their hair with heated resin or hot wax. They decorated their buns with a wide range of clips, accessories or kanzashi needles, kushi combs and kogai rods. The typical materials were various types of metal, predominantly silver, turleshell and lacquered wood.

"Buddha – the one who awoke" lived in the 5th century before Christ. Buddhism became the official religion of the reign of Ashoka in the 3rd century BC. It then started to spread to Sri Lanka and Southeastern Asia. It reached China, Korea and the countries of Southern Asia along the trade routes in the 1st century BC. It reached Japan and then Tibet by various paths in the 6th century.