Japanese Art and Nara (High Culture and Buddhism)
Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The Nara Period (710–794 CE) marks a formative chapter in the blossoming of Japanese high culture, serving as a cultural cradle that shaped the nation’s identity for centuries to come. While Kyoto would later rise to prominence as Japan’s imperial and aesthetic heart, it was in Nara that the foundational threads of Japanese civilization—art, religion, literature, and statecraft—were intricately woven together.
This era witnessed a remarkable efflorescence of court-sponsored artistic expression, refined poetry, historiography, and architectural grandeur, much of it infused with the spiritual and aesthetic sensibilities of imported Chinese and Korean models. Yet, these foreign influences were not merely imitated—they were reinterpreted and naturalized, forming the beginnings of a distinctly Japanese cultural identity.
Central to the Nara Period was the deliberate integration of Buddhism into the very fabric of political and cultural life. Although Buddhist teachings had entered Japan in earlier centuries, it was under the auspices of the Nara court that the religion was institutionalized and aligned with imperial authority. A seminal moment came in 741, when Emperor Shōmu proclaimed the establishment of a national network of provincial temples (kokubunji), effectively embedding Buddhist orthodoxy within the machinery of governance. This policy not only asserted central control but also reinforced the sacred legitimacy of the state, illustrating how religious devotion and political consolidation were deeply entwined during this culturally luminous age.
The Met Museum says (image below), “The sutra to which this section of text and images once belonged narrates the life of the historical Buddha, known in Japanese as Shaka and in Sanskrit as Shakyamuni. Here the Buddha has already achieved enlightenment, demonstrated by the halo (mandorla) framing his head. He is preaching a message to King Bimbisara (558–491 B.C.), who became emperor of the Magadha Empire, in northern India, and an ardent supporter of Buddhist teachings.”
The imprint of China and Korea on this era of Japanese history is unmistakable, their cultural and spiritual legacies etched into its very foundations. From the ancient heartlands of India and Nepal, Buddhism began its long, sacred journey eastward — a luminous thread weaving through mountains and empires. But where once the Dharma flourished across vast stretches of Asia, the blade of Islam would eventually sever its roots. In wave after relentless wave, Islamic conquests swept through Afghanistan, Central Asia, and into what is now Pakistan, extinguishing Buddhist sanctuaries and scattering their teachings to the winds.
In this light, the city of Nara — along with other sanctified sites like Koyasan — stands not just as a monument to Japan’s spiritual inheritance, but as a rare window into a vanished world. Here, the ancient breath of the Buddha still lingers, echoing through temple halls and moss-covered stone, preserving a vision of Buddhist civilization long since erased from much of the Asian continent.
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi’s website and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK