The Asuka period

The Asuka period was a time of transformation for Japanese society. It is named for the Asuka area at the southern end of the Nara (Yamato) Basin (a few miles to the south of the present-day city of Nara), which was the political and cultural centre of the country.

Japan’s interest in and contacts with continental cultures continued to increase in the Asuka. A wide range of political and cultural relations with the Korean kingdoms of Koguryŏ, Silla, and, in particular, Paekche provided an opportunity for comparatively systematic assimilation of vast amounts of Korean culture, Chinese culture read through a Korean prism, and Buddhism.

The most significant change, of course, was the introduction of Buddhism. Historians debate the actual date of the arrival of Buddhist texts, implements of worship, and iconography in Japan, but, according to tradition, a Paekche delegation to the emperor Kimmei in 538 or 552 made the presentation of certain religious articles. Given the extent of contact with Korea, however, various “unofficial” introductions of Buddhism had probably already occurred. The religion soon found favour in Japan and flourished under the powerful regent Prince Shōtoku (574–622), who established it as the state religion.

Buddhism was already a thousand years old when it arrived in Japan. It had transformed and been transformed by the iconography and artistic styles of the various cultures along its path of expansion from India. The central message of Gautama Buddha (6th–5th century bce) had also experienced multiple interpretations, as evidenced by the numerous sectarian divisions in Buddhism. The artistic forms necessary to provide the proper environment for the practice of the religion were well defined, however—calligraphy, painting, sculpture, liturgical implements, and temple architecture—and these were the means by which nearly all continental modes of Buddhism were absorbed and adapted by Japanese culture.

Buddhism was established in Japan as a site-oriented faith. Temples with designs initially based on continental models became centres of worship. In contrast to the importance of funerary art in the Kofun period, the artistic expression of the Asuka period was developed within the matrix of public and privately commissioned temples. By the close of the Asuka period in the mid-7th century, nearly all vestiges of tomb burial customs were actually outlawed as the new faith made extensive inroads.

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Architecture: The Built World

The most important temple complexes of the period are the Shitennō Temple at Ōsaka, the Wakakusa Temple near Nara (both constructed by Prince Shōtoku), and the Asuka Temple at Asuka (built under the direction of Soga Umako). All three are known only through archaeological remains, although Wakakusa, Shōtoku’s private temple, which was destroyed by fire in 670, was reincarnated as the Hōryū Temple (see Hakuhō period). These temple complexes replicated forms popular in Paekche and Koguryŏ. They were walled compounds in which stood a second rectangular compound bordered by a continuous roofed corridor. This second enclosure was entered through a central gate on its south side and contained a variety of internal structures, such as a pagoda (a form derived from the Indian stupa that served the dual functions of cosmological diagram and reliquary of important personages) and a main hall (kondō), both used for worship. Support buildings, such as lecture halls, a belfry, and living quarters, lay outside and to the north of the inner cloister. True to the continental style, the buildings and gates were sited along a south-north axis and were symmetrical in layout. It was within the various buildings, particularly the kondō, that sculptures representing various figures in the Buddhist pantheon were placed.

Roof tiles, stone, and cryptomeria (Japanese cedar) wood were the essential building materials, all indigenous or locally produced. Structures relied on the placement of vertical wood pillars secured on finished stone bases. Horizontal elements were added in varying degrees of complexity, and structural balance was based on the essential pillar concept.

The Hakuhō period

In the early 640s the Soga clan was afflicted with bloody internal intrigue, which offered its rivals the opportunity to usurp power. In 645 Prince Nakono Ōe (later the emperor Tenji) and Nakatomi Kamatari (later Fujiwara Kamatari) led a successful coup and promulgated the Taika reforms, a series of edicts that significantly strengthened the control of the central government. Through successive regimes, some violently introduced, the structuring of a highly centralized government continued through the second half of the 7th century. A major feature of the centralization process was the incorporation and use of Buddhism as an instrument of unification. The period was thus noted for a rapid expansion of Buddhism as aristocrats competed in the construction of temples. Increasing funds were allotted for the expansion of Buddhist temples and acquisition of the attendant iconography required for the expression of the faith.

Four major temples, Asuka, Kawara, Kaikankai, and Yakushi, were already within the area of the planned capital site at Fujiwara. Of the four, only Yakushi Temple has survived, although not at Fujiwara but as an exact replica in Nara, constructed after the move of the capital in 710.

As an imperially commissioned temple, completed about 697, Yakushi had been very prominent at Fujiwara, and the relocated Yakushi Temple assumed equal importance when it was rebuilt at its new site (c. 730). Most recent evidence suggests that the Nara version of the temple was precisely faithful to the Fujiwara original and thus can be considered an example of late Hakuhō period temple design. Notable in its layout is the new prominence given to the kondō as a major structure; it is located in the centre of the compound flanked by two pagodas, which are afforded lesser importance than in earlier temple layouts. The kondō faced a large courtyard, and when its large central doors were opened, the assembled faithful were treated to an impressive view of the sacred images it housed. A unique feature of the Yakushi architecture is the use of the double-roof structure, in which a mokoshi, or roofed porch, was placed between two major stories.

Despite Yakushi Temple’s importance, Hōryū Temple, formerly Wakakusa, Prince Shōtoku’s private temple, which was reconstructed about 680, remains the most significant extant repository of Asuka and Hakuhō art. By employing an asymmetrical layout, Hōryū differs dramatically from the axial-line layout of the major temples of the first half of the century. The gently tapering five-story pagoda and the wider, squatter Golden Hall at Hōryū are placed adjacent to one another in the centre of the compound, their greatly varying sizes visually accommodated by an entry gate that is placed slightly off the central axis. This diversion from Chinese notions of balance became characteristic in many features of Japanese aesthetics.