Buddhist Art of Korea and Japan

Mahayana Buddhism was introduced to the Korean peninsula from China in the 4th century CE.

• religion was first practiced by elites, the royal courts and the aristocracy but gradually adopted by all levels of society

By late 6th century, Korean monks travelled along the trade routes to China and even India to receive training.

Buddhism flourished until the Choson dynasty ( 1392 - 1910 ) when Neo-Confucianism became the state ideology.

• Buddhism still remained a spritual force in Korean society, and private devotional objects / works for monasteries and temples continued to be made

A long-established East Asian route of trade and influence ran from northern China down the Korean peninsula and across the Korea Strait to Japan

• Mahayana Buddhism was introduced to Japan from Korea in the 6th century ( traditionally either 538 or 552 ), as part of a diplomatic mission

  • the religion has a lasting effect on the native culture and still a dominant religion in Japan

By the 7th century the religion was established , Japan had dozens of temples, various orders of priests and nuns, and a body of skilled artisans to craft the icons and other accoutrements of faith needed

Nara period ( 710 - 94 ), Japan was part of an international trading network that linked it with such distant countries as India and Iran

• strongest cultural and artistic influences still came from China and Korea

Japanese cosmopolitan nature illustrated a large bronze image of Roshana (Mahavairocana), supreme Buddha in 752,

• housed in the main hall of Todai-ji in Nara, Japan

• still the world’s largest wooden structure

Vajrayana (Esoteric) Buddhism, and its attendant pantheon of deities was introduced during the Early Heian period ( 794 - 894 ) by a number of Japanese priests.

• studied the religion in China and returned home to find influential monasteries — two becoming the centers of the two main Japanese Buddhist sects

  • Tendai and Shingon

• images of wrathful deities, Fudo Myo-o (Immovable Wisdom King) were introduced as part of the Vajrayana Buddhist pantheon.

  • dark skin, fierce expression, fangs, and bulging eyes indicate his power to vanquish all demons

In late Heian period (894-1185), Pure Land Buddhims became very popular

• taught that faith in Amida, Buddha of Western Paradise, and the diligent recitation of his name enabled the soul to be reborn in a heavenly Pure Land rather than in a Buddhist hell / undesireable rebirth.

Jizo — a deity of compassion and benvolence whose powers expanded as time passed

• introduced to Japan centuries earlier as a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhist pantheon

• had the guise of an itinerant monk who gave succor to children, mothers, and travellers by the time of the Kumakura period ( 1185 - 1333 )

  • Buddhism became the faith of all people of all classes