Comparison between Iranian and Japanese Cultures

Iranian and Japanese Cultures

For one, to understand a country, society in the country, and people, it is important to learn and understand their culture. In my comparison of the cultures in the two countries, I will stress on the art involved in the Iranian and Japanese cultures, their religion, and wedding ceremonies and explore information on their modern cultures.

Way of Life

Iran has a very rich culture which has revealed itself in a number of diversities all through its history as well as that of Central Asia. One of the main characteristics that define the Iranian culture is the electric cultural elasticity. In this article, I will use the words Persian and Iranian at times, to refer to the D speakers of that language while at other times, to refer to Iran before the 20^th century (pre-twentieth century as was used to be referred by explorers from the west). Therefore, the two are not the same. This article focuses on the cultures of people from Great Persia (Allison, 2002).

Japan is one of the fascinating countries and one with different faces. However, it is seen as being in the deepest traditions that can be traced thousands of years back; on the other hand, it is viewed as a society with a rapid change and a continuous shifting of fashion and technological development. Japanese culture is rich and diverse; this culture can be traced back in the 10000 BC when Japan saw the settlement of the first Jomo people. Japan is well-known all over the world widely for its traditional arts as well as contemporary pop culture. Today, you can still see a woman clad in kimono walking down the streets or sumo wrestlers fighting in a ring.

In addition, a complicated cuisine unique social norms and well-done pieces of art are also contributed to this attractive culture that often seems fashionable.

Art

Iran’s one of the many heritages in the world is the richness of arts; its art ranges from many disciplines, including architecture, painting, metal working, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, and stonemasonry. Iranian culture has undergone various phases of evolution. The unique beauty of the art environ is evidently replicated from the reliefs of Achaemenid in Persepolis to the mosaic paintings in Bishaupur. When Islam found its way in Iran, it brought drastic changes in the styles of art being practiced. Islam came with dynasties; in each of these dynasties, there was a section for set aside for art (foci). The Qajarid era was the very last stage of the classical Persian art before its modernization. It found its way in Persia and diffused into the elements of traditionalist schools of aesthetics (Brooke, 2002). On the other hand, Japan has a long history of art; its art is divided into painting, calligraphy, and sculpture. The painting has been done in Japan for a long time now. The writing was first done using a brush which is a traditional tool. They used these brushes to shade letters and came with calligraphy. They used wood to make sculptures which consisted of Buddhist images.

Language

Iran is a home of various spoken languages which have distinct locations where they are concentrated (there is a freedom of movement in Iran). The predominant language is Persian (the national language of Iran). It is spoken all over the country. Azeri is primarily spoken in the northwest, Kurdish is in the west, and Arabic is mostly spoken in the Persian Gulf that is located at the coastal regions. Balochi is dominantly spoken in the east, and finally, Turkmen is in the northern border regions (Bierdman, 2003).

The Persian literature has been a source of inspiration to many poetic writers. Goethe and Ralph Waldo Emerson are just but examples of the many writers who have received their inspiration from this literature. Persian dialects are widely spoken throughout the region, from Syria to China; it is dominantly spoken in the Iranian plateau. The very important serving dialects in Persia are Tajir and Dari which are respectively spoken in Tajir and Afghanistan as the official languages. On the other hand, Japanese is the official language in Japan and is also widely used by immigrants from Japan in whatever place on the globe. Japanese is put into writing in three scripts: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. All these scripts are imported from China.

The Iranian literature faces the influence from the poetry from Persia but also expresses the current day Iran through various writers such as Moradi-Kermani. As well, the most deciphered modern Iranian writer is Ahmad Shamlou (Bierdman, 2003).

Religion

For more than a millennium, the national faith in Iran was Zoroastrianism. After the Arab conquest, most of the people changed their faith to Islam. This had a great impact on the philosophy of Iran, its culture, and art. Currently, out of 98 per cent of Muslims in Iran 89 per cent are Shi’a, and the rest 9 per cent are the Sunni. However, China as a nation has a great assortment of religious dogmata. The chief religions are Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism. Chinese citizens may freely express and choose their religious beliefs as well as make clear their affiliations to religions. With respect to incomplete data, there are about 100 million supporters of different religious faiths. There are more than eighty-five thousand sites for religious functions, some three hundred thousand clergies and approximately three thousand religious institutions throughout China. In addition, there are seventy-four religious colleges and schools run by religious institutions for preparing clerical personnel.