Chinese Influence on Japanese Buddhist Art

Chinese Influence on Japanese Buddhist Art

Introduction

The influence of Buddhism on Japan’s religious, artistic, and political development is evident in modern Japan (Okakura, 2007). Buddhism spread to Japan for the first time approximately 14 centuries ago, and the country remains the prominent host to Buddhist practices, perhaps in Asia. It is the point of migration of Buddhist art and traditions. Buddhism started in India at around 500BC, and arrived in the rest of Asia approximately 1000 years later, coming last to Japan in the middle of the (6^th century Young, 2007). Emperor Yomei embraced its practices and converted to the religion. Soon, an enormous flowering of architecture ensued as magnificent temples, hosting statues and other icons of art, built to impress people.

Asuka Era, 6^th and 7^th century (538-710AD)

Korea introduced Buddhism to Japan, but it is China that influenced Japan’s Buddhist art (Okakura, 2007). The first piece of art of Buddhist nature came from Korea through a bronze Buddha Statue presented to emperor Kinmei. Soon after the presentation of the gift by the Korean King, there was an outbreak of smallpox in Japan.  The emperor ordered the bronze statue gift thrown into the river Naniwa. That slightly affected Korean influence on Japanese artistic expressions. The Chinese and Korean missionaries then came to the country bringing rituals and text.

The early missionaries brought their techniques and art for reproducing the Buddhist icons and sutras. The Chinese missionaries brought the Buddhist deities in manifolds. The Buddhist artwork belonged to the Mahayana culture (from the Chinese Mahayana missionary schools). Buddhism became an element of state power. The Chinese missionaries came with three scripture texts (Sutras) that are the greatest source influence in the old Japan (Noma, 2003). The scriptures acted to protect the State, expel disease and demons and to ensure abundant harvests and rain.

The Nara Era, 8^th Century (710-794AD)

The Nara period begins with the change of capital to present-day Nara (Honour & Fleming, 2005). The Japanese modeled the city after Chinese city of Changan. This underscored Japanese fascination with Chinese culture, painting, sculpture, and architecture. Emperor Shomu ruled during the Nara period, which represents Japan’s first era of imperial splendor. The emperor ordered the establishment of a system of provincial temples, nationwide. The greatest imperial artistic achievement is, perhaps, the construction of a giant bronze effigy of Birushana (the great Buddha). It is the greatest statue of the time. The other massive achievement by Shomu is the construction of a treasure-house, a popular collection center for Buddhist arts.

The Nara period is an era that marks Japan’s great age of artistic expressions. The art in this era reflects the influence of Chinese culture, aristocratic tastes, and the reproduction of sculptural designs imported from China and little from Korea. In this era, Japan established the Todaiji Temple, one of the seven great temples of the Nara era, as a center for Buddhism, newly introduced from China (Giesen, 2012). The architecture of the temple drew influence from the architectural design of the Chinese Tang’s Dynasty.  The design included a great hall, large, heavy roof, and a complex bracketing system that supported it. It became the largest building in the world housing the Great Buddha.

The location of the Temple is on a raised place just as is the case in Chinese Temples that are built on hill tops. The difference with the Chinese is that the Todaiji Temple is almost completely wooden, complemented with stone. In ancient times, wood was not a popular material for sculptures. Wooden statues were rare and outnumbered by metal (gilded bronze) and clay sculptures. Carving wooden sculptures also faced competition against Kanishtu, a new production technique borrowed from Tang Dynasty, China.  However, wooden sculptures eventually overcame the competition from dry lacquer and clay, but bronze images continue to dominate because of the discovery of copper. Initially, Japan imported copper.

Conclusion

In the Asuka and Nara eras, Japan imported the gilt bronze statues in massive counts from China and Korea (Okakura, 2007).  The reproduction of architectural designs of the statues occurred in Japan’s workshops sponsored by the courts. Sculpting used metal (bronze) and clay as the most popular materials. Japan imported or copied wood statues from Chinese and Korean dynasties. Wood became popular for sculpting towards the end of 7^th century.

It competed at the same level with bronze and eventually exceeded bronze in popularity. In Japan alone, the historic artistic wealth of Asian culture is evident through treasured pieces of art. The imperial collections and Shinto temples reveal the subtle curves of Chinese architecture. The temples of the Nara era have rich representations of the Chinese Tang culture. The treasure stores have plenty work of arts and manuscripts that belong to the Chinese Mongol and Sung dynasties.

Reference

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