Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

J APAN, BUDDHIST A RT IN
Important Art Object. Artifacts not deemed artistically
or historically important have receded from view.
Many “art objects” left temple precincts for the art
market and now reside in museums and private collections
both in Japan and abroad. Icons in temple
settings, whether on permanent view or revealed periodically,
as often submit to the gaze of tourists and
photographers as to visiting worshippers or temple
congregations.
Japanese Buddhist art refers primarily to sculpture
and painting of the seventh through thirteenth centuries,
which is perceived to be the most creative period.
Canonical objects were commissioned by elite
patrons who founded temples and engaged the services
of metalworkers, woodcarvers, painters, weavers, and
lacquerers—artisans in every media. Initially, people
without wealth and property who contributed their labor
and skill in the service of the elite would not have
participated in the religious practices their productions
served. Over time some artisans rose in status as they
held lower aristocratic rank or obtained honorary Buddhist
titles for their service at court. By the thirteenth
century some painters and carvers joined their patrons
as donors, even signing their names inside images or
on paintings. As Buddhism spread both geographically
and socially, groups of devotees visited temples
and made monetary donations for the construction
and upkeep of images, halls, and festivals. Indeed, by
the sixteenth century temples depended on patronage
from all levels of society as merchants and artisans
grew wealthy at the expense of the aristocratic and
military elites.
Many scholars now challenge long-held assumptions
about what constitutes “Buddhist art” and
whether such a concept remains valid. Art historians
and Buddhologists have renewed their scrutiny of objects,
sites, practices, and beliefs long forgotten, giving
more attention to functions and audiences than to aesthetic
properties, and hence opening up later periods
and commoner arts to scholarly inquiry. With this
process in mind, this entry focuses specifically upon
the dynamic of making and using “Buddhist art” in
Japan: It only hints at specific objects, their style,
iconography, and relationships to other objects.
MONASTIC ARCHITECTURE, PORTRAITURE, and arts associated
with individual schools of Buddhism are
treated in separate entries. Unlike some Asian countries,
Japan has preserved material and documentary
traces of Buddhist patronage to a remarkable degree.
Much that is discussed in this entry would have been
equally true for other Buddhist countries.
Consecrated images
The most prominent Buddhist objects are cast, carved,
modeled, or painted images of buddhas and bodhisattvas
(collectively, butsuzo ). In the eyes of makers
and worshippers, these things were not sculpture, statuary,
or painting, but were rather animate, living images
that manifested the aura of the deities they
represented. Materials—most commonly wood, silk,
mineral pigments, and gold—were themselves sacred,
prepared and worked by artisans who were part of the
Buddhist establishment. When an image was finished,
an eye-opening (kaigen) ceremony was held in which
the officiant dotted in the pupils of the eyes to signify
its birth as a sacred image. Once animated, an image
would be placed on a temple altar or in a temporary
space, to be provided with offerings of light, incense,
water, and food.
Large altar platforms in the main halls of Buddhist
temples from all periods generally held ensembles
of images including BUDDHAS, BODHISATTVAS, and
guardian figures. In many cases these images date
from different periods and have separate histories,
and may have come from other temples or private residences.
Whether an altar maintains its originally
planned complement of images, or has been changed,
a central buddha or bodhisattva image serves as the
main icon of the hall. That image is generally larger
in scale than attendant deities. In addition to buddha
icons and ensembles in the main halls, most temples
also established separate halls devoted to a single deity
worshipped alone or as part of an ensemble.
Much smaller images, both carved and painted, were
often made for particular occasions and may have been
used only once or periodically. During ceremonies and
lectures, images served as the fundamental deity (honzon),
were offered greetings, offerings, prayers, music,
and the like, and were then de-animated as the ceremony
closed. Smaller images could be returned to
shrine boxes or temple storehouses. Some images became
the focus of monthly or yearly ceremonies or
sutra readings, but many were kept secret, locked away
in cabinets that ultimately enhanced their efficacy and
aided in their preservation.
Because buddha images must be made to exacting
iconographical standards, most in fact copy other images,
leaving little room for innovation on the part of
their makers, except perhaps in stylistic detail or technique.
The act of making and worshipping an image
was a good deed, and inscribed or documented examples
reveal that buddha images were dedicated to trans-
392 E NCYCLOPEDIA OF B UDDHISM