Japanese fine art has its roots in the 3rd century BC, when images with everyday and other subjects appeared on bronze products (dotaku) and mirrors.

In the 3rd - 5th century funerary clay statuettes of haniva were created - images of people and animals. Art related to Buddhism has been developing since the 4th century - monumental cult statues and murals. It flourished in the 9th - 11th century. In the 8th - 11th century the Yamato-e painting school developed - landscapes and scenes from the life of the aristocracy, the animalistic and satirical painting (9th - 12th century) and the realistic portrait appeared. Since the 14th century, Chinese ink art has influenced Japanese painting. In the 17th - 19th century the democratic art school ukiyo-e was formed with plots from the city life, figures of dancers, theater stages and others. It is mainly a color engraving on wood. Prominent representatives of the ukiyo-e school are the artists Kiyonobu, Utamaro, Hokusai and others. European painting genres have been adopted since the end of the 19th century. Oil painting develops in 2 directions:

-national - nihonga;
-Western European - yoga.

In the 20th century, some formalist currents spread, and a realistic movement with revolutionary themes in graphics, painting and sculpture was formed. Progressive artists in the spirit of folk traditions are Sori, Maruki, and Western European - Akamatsu, Toshitsugu, Fumio.

Decorative and household art reached a great flowering: artistic processing of metal, varnish, ceramics and porcelain, miniature woodcarving, bone carving, artistic fabrics and more. (from the end of the 17th century).