September 23, 1983

The art gallery at the Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street, boasts ''Emaki: Narrative Scrolls From Japan'' (through Nov. 6), a small but incomparable group of lively ''picture scrolls,'' from medieval times to the 20th century, which regale us with dramatic scenes of adventure, romance, battle, history, biography and Buddhism. And at the Japan House Gallery, 333 East 47th Street, there is ''Autumn Grasses and Water: Motifs in Japanese Art'' (through Nov. 13), a gathering of 50 elegant, sumptuous things from the 13th to the 19th centuries - screens, lacquerware, textiles and porcelains adorned with classical Japanese emblems of nature - mostly borrowed from the Suntory Museum in Tokyo, which organized the show in conjunction with the Japan Society. One of the key differences between Japanese and Western art is the strong pictorial tradition developed by Western painters since the Renaissance, based on a structured composition depicting the figure and other objects in a unified space. ''Decoration'' - i.e., design that lacks this pictorial structure - is considered secondary, and in Western culture the ''fine'' arts thus have it over the applied, or ''decorative'' arts. But no such distinction occurs in Japanese art, where the decorative and the pictorial can even coexist in the same object. For one thing, the Renaissance concept of pictorial space never invaded Japanese art, and for another - as Masakazu Yamazaki, a Japanese playwright and critic, points out in in essay for the splendid ''Autumn Grasses'' catalogue - the Japanese have always viewed artmaking as a highly social activity.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos said today that he would be compelled to order ''extreme measures'' if there were any resumption of the anti-Government rioting of Wednesday night and early today. The statement, delivered over national television, was taken as a warning that he would reimpose martial law, under which he ruled from 1972 to 1981. Mr. Marcos said his Government held ''the opposition and its leaders responsible for the unfortunate incidents last night and early this morning.'' According to the police, the clashes between security forces and demonstrators left 11 dead and about 200 wounded.

The Soviet Union has rejected an American appeal that it use its influence to restrain Syrian military involvement in the fighting in Lebanon and has blamed the United States for the trouble there, Administration officials said today. The officials disclosed the substance of a secret diplomatic exchange with Moscow this month to underscore their frustration in trying to bring about a cease-fire. A senior Administration official said this afternoon that ''there is a view within the United States Government that one of the fallouts from the Korean airliner incident has been a more aggressive policy by the Russians in the Middle East.'' The official added, ''The Russians seem to think that an exacerbation of tensions in the Middle East would work to their benefit.''

A new book's conclusions that Julius Rosenberg was indeed a Soviet spy whose execution served the purposes of the American Government and the Communist Party has revived an emotional debate about his guilt and the role of his wife, Ethel. The conclusions of the book, ''The Rosenberg File,'' are by no means new. But in a controversy that has thrived for more than three decades, the book's credibility has been enhanced on two counts. Its authors said they began their research believing Mr. Rosenberg and his wife were not guilty, and the authors combine personal interviews with corroborating evidence from Government files, much of which had previously been released but never assembled. But not everyone is convinced. Those who insist the Rosenbergs were not guilty - not guilty, at least, of the formal espionage conspiracy charges and of stealing a key secret to the atomic bomb - still question the credibility of the witnesses for the prosecution.

Markets Stock prices registered a strong advance, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing at a new high for the second time this week. The Dow rose 14.23 points, to 1,257.52, which was 8.33 points higher than its record Tuesday. Analysts cited a late credit market rally and Wednesday's favorable short-interest report. (Page D1.) The auction of $3.5 billion of 20-year Treasury bonds attracted heavy institutional buying. Shortly afterward, prices rose almost a point. (D7.) Assets of money market mutual funds climbed $389 million, to $164.55 billion, in the week ended Wednesday. (D2.)