The Art of Jepanese Buddhist - Essay Example

“Buddhist art originated from Indian subcontinents, with contact from other cultures all over Asia and passage of time. The art spread rapidly to other parts of Asia and into Japan” (Kim 267). We are going to use images of Buddha from the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in our university. This paper aims at explaining the introduction of Buddhist art and development that come along as a result of Buddhism in Japan. As said above, Buddhist art owes its origin to the Indian subcontinent, the Buddhist religion and art thought to have come from China into Japan through the Korean peninsula.

The Buddhist art encouraged by prince Shotoku and emperor Shomu in Seiko (6th century). This period also known as Nara period and was during the eighth century. This period in conjunction with Heian and Kamakura saw Buddhist art grow to a great extent. Several ceremonies accompanied this period, Nara, one of the most famous eye opening ceremony performed by the Japanese, at that time always accompanied by a sumptuous vegetarian banquet during the fourth of 752 for the Birushana. This ceremony is commonly known as “Great Buddha” of Todai-ji.

These ceremonies get conducted in front of an icon with flowers, incense and candles. As long as the eye opening ceremony had not been performed on the carved woods, these icons got regarded as inanimate wooden substances or plants; Heian period then followed. During the early stages of Heian period, architecture and Buddhist art significantly influenced the traditional Shinto arts and Hindu art. This resulted into Buddhist painting becoming fashionable especially among the affluent Japanese.

Kamakura period saw to the blossoming of the country’s Buddhist sculpture which owes its origin greatly to the works of Heian period. Buddhist art seems diverse, bold and creative. The period after 13th century saw a changeover to Zen art from orthodox Buddhist art (Joseph 652). This philosophy introduced into the country via Dogen and Eisai on the return journey from China. Hosts of several unique pottery and paintings showing their desire to unravel the true meaning of life can still be found belonging to that time.

Art forms like martial arts and Ikebana also came up during that period. The Amida sect of the religion availed the foundation for many famous artworks. Buddhist arts gained popularity among several citizens as they fell in love with the scroll paintings, paintings of Buddhas, paintings applied in worship, hell and other religious themes. While under the Zen, sect portraitures of holy priests such as Bodhi dharma also gained popularity in addition to Sumi-e brush painting and scroll calligraphy.

The popularity of Buddhist arts led to an increase in the number of Buddhist’s Temples to about 80,000 Temples in Japan, majority of these Buddhist’s Temples being made from wood. This compelled the Buddhists to carry out massive restoration in order to preserve the holy Temples. The arrival of Buddhism into Japan played a significant role in the Buddhist art, “its introduction from a Korean kingdom known as Paekche” (Charles 232) as part of a series of diplomatic exchanges that perpetuated into a wider awareness of the material cultures and beliefs of Korea and China.

Further cultural exchanges during the 6th and 7th centuries brought not only a writing system (using Chinese characters), but also a religion; consequently, this led to a highly refined material culture and a sophisticated