Buddhist art in Japan

During this period, outstanding busshi (sculptors of Buddhist statues) appeared one after another in the Kei school, and Unkei, Kaikei, and Tankei were especially famous.

Specifically, during this period depictions of Buddha are rendered through key iconography such as a lotus, swirled hair, a third eye, mudras, and mandorlas.

Rather than merely depicting Buddha and bodhisattvas, renderings of deities and guardian figures begin to appear with individualistic and expressive features.

The Triad of Yakushi shows the healing Buddha which presides over the Eastern Pure Land attended by two Bodhisattvas Nikko and Gakko.

The triad, housed in the Yakushiji temple (7th century in Nara), reveals Chinese and central Asian influences in its anatomical definition, naturalism and realistic drapery.

In terms of painting, Buddhist works emulated the Chinese Tang style, which was characterized by elongated and rounded figures and broad brush strokes.

Constructed as the headquarters for a network of temples in each of the provinces, the Tōdaiji is the most ambitious religious complex erected in the early centuries of Buddhist worship in Japan.

Under the Ritsuryō system of government in the Nara period, Buddhism was heavily regulated by the state through the Sōgō (僧綱, Office of Priestly Affairs).

In 784 the Emperor Kanmu, threatened by the growing secular power of the Buddhist institutions in Nara, moved the capital to Heian-kyō (Kyōto).

In addition, this period is marked by the deviation from Chinese artistic models and the development of art specific to Japanese concerns.

Jōchō redefined the body shape of Buddha statues by perfecting the technique of "yosegi zukuri" (寄木造り) which is a combination of several woods.

Conversely, images of the Amida Buddha descending from heaven to collect the souls of those with good karma, known as Raigozu (来迎図), became a popular theme throughout the Heian period.

The irregular topography of these sites forced Japanese architects to rethink the problems of temple construction, and in so doing to choose more indigenous elements of design.

Cypress-bark roofs replaced those of ceramic tile, wood planks were used instead of earthen floors, and a separate worship area for the laity was added in front of the main sanctuary.

[8] Among his works, a pair of large Nio (or Kongō Rikishi) in Tōdai-ji depict muscular guardians in a dramatic contrapposto stance.

Many of his figures are more idealized than Unkei and his sons, and are characterized by a beautifully finished surface, richly decorated with pigments and gold.

The Kei school was granted the opportunity to restore Nara's greatest temples, the Tōdai-ji and Kōfuku-ji, replacing their Buddhist sculptures.

[13] The Tōdai-ji restoration project lasted several generations, from roughly 1180 to 1212,[14] and drew extensively on Tang and Song Chinese styles, introducing new stylistic elements while remaining true to tradition.

[17] Key works include: Sanjusangendo Temple, Hachiman in the guise of a monk, Chogen, Nio figures of Todaiji, The Priest Kuya, Zoshi's Hell Scrolls, Jizo Raigo, Jeweled pagod mandala.

With the return of government to the capital, the popularizing trends of the Kamakura period came to an end, and cultural expression took on a more aristocratic, elitist character.

The foremost painter of the new Sumi-e style was Sesshū Tōyō (1420–1506), a Rinzai priest who traveled to China in 1468–69 and studied contemporary Ming painting.

To make one of the calligraphic and highly stylized Haboku paintings, the painter would visualize the image and then made swift broad strokes into the paper resulting in a splashed and abstract composition, all done with meditative concentration.

By the end of the 14th century, monochrome landscape paintings (sansuiga) had found patronage by the ruling Ashikaga family and was the preferred genre among Zen painters, gradually evolving from its Chinese roots to a more Japanese style.

This style grew out of literary circles, an artist would usually be given a subject to paint and the poets would write accompanying verses to be written above the work.

A famous example is the scroll "Catching a Catfish with a Gourd" (Hyōnen-zu 瓢鮎図) located at Taizō-in, Myōshin-ji, Kyoto.

[21] In the foreground of the painting a man is depicted on the bank of a stream holding a small gourd and looking at a large slithery catfish.

The painting was commissioned by the 4th shogun of the Muromachi period, Ashikaga Yoshimochi (1386–1428), and was based on the nonsensical riddle "How do you catch a catfish with a gourd?".

His son, Kanō Motonobu (1476–1559) established the Kano style as the main Japanese painting school during the Muromachi period.

Tōhaku was in fact so much enamored with the techniques of Sesshū Tōyō that he attempted to claim rights as his fifth successor, though he lost in a court battle to Unkoku Togan.

However small, its members conserved Tōhaku's quiet and reserved aesthetic, which many attribute to the influence of Sesshū as well as his contemporary and friend, Sen no Rikyū.