The era of Japanese Buddhist art refers to the several hundred years starting from the introduction of gold and bronze statues from Baekje to Japan in 385 AD until around the 12th century AD. Due to the establishment and development of Buddhism's status in Japan, Buddhist themes became the main content of architectural sculptures and paintings in this historical period, producing numerous excellent works and outstanding writers.
The introduction of Buddhism to Japan had a profound impact on Japanese culture and art. With the spread of Buddhism, many forms of Chinese architecture were adopted by Japan, and their own characteristics were constantly added. Horyuji Temple built in Nara is a good example. Chang'an, the ancient capital of my country, once became a model for Japanese capital architecture.
In 593 AD, Prince Shotoku came to power as regent. He advocated Buddhism and built temples extensively. Since then, many Buddhist buildings have been built for more than a thousand years. These buildings have solemn shapes, exquisite structures and reasonable layouts. They are not only fully consistent with the spirit of Buddhism, but also show the high wisdom of the Japanese people. These representative works include the Golden Hall of Toshodaiji Temple, the Great Buddha Hall of Todaiji Temple, the three-story pagoda of Tomaji Temple, and the five-story pagoda of Muroji Temple.
Japan’s buildings in the Buddhist art era, whether they were temples, shrines, official offices, or private houses, were mostly based on wooden structures with various mortise and tenon assemblies. Their roof ridge structures, with their different characteristics, are called various types such as "Kiritsuma-zukuri", "Irumo-zukuri", "Yoshi-V-zukuri", "Hougage-zukuri", etc. However, no matter what kind of roof ridge structure, it is characterized by a large roof and a large slope. The Byodo-in Phoenix Hall, built in 1053 AD on the bank of the Uji River, has a head in the middle and two wings on the sides, which resembles the spread of a phoenix's wings, hence its name. This is a varied and original architectural example in the history of Japanese art.
In 522 AD, Sima Da, a sculptor from the Liang Dynasty of my country, and others went to Japan to make Buddhist statues, which were passed down from generation to generation. The Buddha statues made by Sima Da's grandson Ansaku Shiri became the most authoritative and typical style of early Japanese Buddhist sculpture. These Buddha statues have long faces, almond-shaped eyes, and moon-shaped lips with smiles, showing the beauty of calmness and kindness. The representative work of Ansaku Shiri is the three statues of Sakyamuni hidden in Horyuji Temple.
From the end of the 7th century AD to the end of the 9th century AD, Japanese Buddhist sculptures directly benefited from Tang culture. The realism ability of Buddhist sculptures in this era has been significantly improved, and the use of materials has also expanded. In addition to traditional gold, bronze, stone, wood, etc., techniques such as statues, dry paint, and deactivated dry paint have also become increasingly perfect. There are many outstanding works from this period, the earlier ones include the Buddha head of the old Yamada Temple, the statue of the new temple, the Guanyin statue of Herin Temple, etc. Later ones include the group statues of the five-story pagoda of Horyuji Temple, the dry lacquer statues of the ten disciples and the eight classes of Kofukuji Temple, the large Buddha statue of Lushena of Todaiji Temple, the dry lacquer monk Jianzhen statue of Shodaiji Temple, etc. Many of the statues have vivid postures and delicate expressions. In particular, the statue of Monk Jianzhen vividly expresses the spirit and appearance of Master Jianzhen. The center of the statue is empty and the shell is as thin as paper. It is still intact to this day.
The Amida Buddha statue built in 1053 AD in the Phoenix Hall of Uji Byodo-in Temple has a round, soft, steady and dignified shape, and has become a model work that influenced an era. This style is called "Dingchao style" because the author's name is Dingchao. At the same time, the many high-relief sculptures on the lintels of this Amitabha Buddha Hall are also very wonderful works.
After 894 AD, the influence of the Tang Dynasty gradually declined, but it stimulated the development of the national style of Japanese art. Lyrical and delicate writing styles and descriptions of complex and changeable psychological states have made some literary works very successful. Painters painted these literary works into continuous storytelling long scrolls, which are called emakimono, and there are many excellent works among them. "The Tale of Genji Emaki" is a representative work of Emaki. The author cleverly arranges various characters and environments with rich imagination and flexible composition. The outlines and colors of the characters and props appear luxurious and real, and the whole picture reveals the beauty of decoration.
Starting from the 7th century AD, with the frequent cultural exchanges between China and Japan, Chinese characters were gradually adopted by Japan. Many knowledgeable Japanese people devoted themselves to studying Chinese characters and calligraphy, and the first batch of famous Chinese calligraphy masters in Japanese history emerged. Among them, Kukai, Tachibana Issei, and Emperor Saga are known as the three strokes of calligraphy. Their powerful and beautiful calligraphy has the demeanor of masters from the Tang Dynasty. In a later era, kana calligraphy based on Japanese kana appeared. Kana calligraphy is lingering and winding like a gossamer. Combined with Japanese poetry, it has become an art form with a strong national character.