The Japanese government introduced the Western-style paintings and other culture mainly because it wanted to learn architecture and city planning from the West, and the Technical Fine Arts School and others played a central role in learning, but the government itself was not familiar with the concept of geijutsu.
ただし西洋式の絵画などを導入した動機の最大のものは建築や都市計画などの設計のためというもので、工部美術学校などがその舞台となり、芸術という概念は政府にもなじみの薄いものであった。