A History of Japanese Art
Page 34
Fig. 301. Great Buddha Hall (N.T.)
Tōdai-ji, Nam
The floor inside is paved with stone, and in the center sits Daibutsu, the chief Buddha of the temple, cross-legged upon a lotus pedestal on the elevated dais.
The Daibutsu is made of bronze. Its casting was started in 745 and took about five years to complete. It measures 53.5 ft. in height; the face 16 ft. in length, and the eye 3.9 ft. in length. But, as has been said, it was repaired several times and sustained many damages, especially on the upper parts. The knees and some of the lotus petals are original. On the petals are represented the Buddhist world in fine engraved lines, which afford us important materials for the study of pictures of the Nara Period.
An attendant figure at either side of Daibutsu was produced in the middle of the Yedo Period, when the Hall was reconstructed for the third time.
In front of the Great Buddha Hall is a large octagonal bronze lantern. (Fig. 302) It was produced at the time when the Daibutsu was first cast in the middle of the eighth century. Although its gilt has come off, it has retained its original magnificent form and beauty for many years. It measures 15 feet in height and has eight beautiful gilded panels which are masterpieces of the founder's art of the Nara Period. On the diamond fret in open-work, angels of graceful pose stand lightly on flowers. The wonderfully delicate curves of the figures and floral designs harmoniously counteract the hardness of the straight lines of the fret. In Figure 303 we have reproduced one of the panels. Note the soft smile and the floral ornament around the head in Figure 304 which reproduces its details.
Fig. 302. Octagonal Bronze Lantern (N.T.)
Tōdai-ji, Nara
Fig. 303. Angel of the Octagonal Bronze Lantern
Tōdai-ji, Nara
3. HOKKE-DŌ TEMPLE, NARA
Hokke-dō or Sangatsu-dō temple stands on the east of Daibutsu and belongs to the Tōdai-ji monastery. (Fig. 305) It was erected in the 5th year of Tempyō when the Great Buddha Hall was not yet built. The temple originally measured five spans front and four deep, and had a hipped roof. However, in the Kamakura Period, the Raidō, or Sanctuary Hall, was added to its front and the shape of the roof more or less changed. But the main part of the building still retains its original grandeur of the Tempyō architecture.
In this temple are installed Fukū Kenjaku Kwannon, the Main Buddha of this Hall, and a number of other Buddhist figures. Most of them are representative masterpieces made of clay or dry-lacquer in the Nara Period. Indeed, this chapel is like a treasury of the excellent statues of the eighth century sculpture.
Fukū Kenjaku Kwannon is made of dry-lacquer. Its majestic super-human height of 3.63 meters conveys an inspiring impression of spiritual power. (Fig. 306) Its sacred crown is wonderfully delicate and excellent open work of silver with beautiful floral design, ornamented with numerous pendants of precious stones of various colors, which count about ten thousand. (Fig. 307)
Fig. 304. Detail of the Angel (Fig. 303)
Fig. 305. Hokke-dō
Tōdai-ji, Nara
On either side of the main figure stands a clay figure. One is the image of Nikkwo and the other of Gakkwo. Their artistic value is very great, and marks the culmination of Tempyō sculpture in clay.
Four Guardian Kings (Shiten-nō), standing at the four corners of the altar, are also masterpieces in dry-lacquer decorated with colors. They measure 10 ft. in height and are attributed to the priest Gyōgi.
At the rear of the altar is constructed a shrine in which is installed a figure of Shitsu Kongō-jin, or Vajra Holder. It is a masterpiece of the violent type of statue in clay. (Fig. 308) The figure measures 1.66 meters in height. It is powerful and full of motion; the left arm is straightened tensely with every muscle in play; the right hand is raised, brandishing a vajra. Of such violent types as this figure, Fenollosa remarked well when he said "the muscles and tendons of the arms and of the elevated fists are worked to the utmost perfection of the veins." It is traditionally said that in a battle the statue poured forth swarms of wasps from its mouth and had the enemy's men stung to death by its protegés. Such a tradition may have arisen because of the utmost passion of battle expressed in its face. The original painting over the clay has been preserved almost perfectly. The figure is on view to the public only once a year.
Fig. 306. Fukū Kenjaku Kwannon (N.T.)
Hokke-dō, Nara
Fig. 307. Sacred Crown Worn by Fuku Kenjaku Kwannon
Hokke-dō, Nara
4. KAIDAN-IN OR THE INITIATION HALL OF TŌDAI-JI, NARA
The Kaidan-in, or Initiation Hall of the Tōdai-ji monastery is on the west side of the Daibutsu. This Hall is now famous, for it contains the clay figures of Four Guardian Kings which are set upon the great raised altar of the Hall. All these figures stand upon the bodies of misshapen brutal imps. Each measures 1.64 meters in height. The figure of Tamon-ten, one of the four guardian kings, who holds a miniature stupa in his raised right palm, is especially fine. (Fig. 309) Its stern and resolute visage is admirably rendered, as will be seen in Figure 310. All these figures had coloring, but now only a trace of it is to be seen. It is to be noticed that obsidian is inlaid for the pupils of the eye.
Fig. 308. Vajra Holder (N.T.)
Hokke-dō, Nara
5. SHŌSŌ-IN TREASURY, NARA
The Shōsō-in stands near the Daibutsu. (Fig. 311) It formerly belonged to the Tōdai-ji monastery, the national cathedral of Japan. The origin of the treasure house is this: when the Emperor Shōmu died, in 765, many objects of artistic value, which had belonged to him were presented to this state cathedral and were listed in a catalogue which also remains today. Since then they have been stored in the same house down to the present day, together with objects used in ceremonies held in the temple.
This wonderful treasure house is a wooden building with a tiled roof. The floor of the entire building is supported by forty round pillars, each 9 feet high. Therefore, under the whole floor is a clear open air space through which anyone can pass. The walls are made of roughly hewn triangular beams of hinoki laid in "log-cabin" fashion. No mortar is used on either side. In a country like Japan, where the degree of humidity is very high, wooden architecture like this is most preferable, because plain wood walls, floors, and pillars will absorb moisture readily, but it is rapidly evaporated in the sunshine and dry air, which can enter and circulate very easily. Anyhow it is perfectly wonderful that this art repository with its original contents has been standing for eleven hundred and fifty years in the very same place, from the time of erection day down to the present.
The collection in this treasure house contains about 3,000 art objects of the age: various kinds of furniture, pottery, wooden and leather boxes lacquered or inlaid with gold, silver, ivory or different colored woods, masks, musical instruments, medicines, textile fabrics, writing materials, written documents, manuscript copies of Buddhist scriptures and many other things. Indeed it includes a very extensive field of art and historical documents, all from the eighth century, and represents the best Eastern art of that time. In their decorative motives and workmanship of these objects Byzantine, Persian, and Indian influences can be recognized.
Fig. 309. Figure of Tamon-ten
Kaidan-in, Nara
We can do here nothing more than take up a few objects to give just a glimps of the contents.
In the treasure house are various kinds of musical instruments decorated with beautiful designs.
One of the most beautiful of these is a seven-stringed psaltery. (Fig. 312) The surface and back side are all lacquered black and inlaid with gold and silver plates cut into various shapes, figures, animals, flowers, birds, and butterflies. These designs are first incrusted and then evenly polished off. The principal design is enclosed in the square at the upper part. (Fig. 43).
Fig. 310. Detail of Fig. 309
Fig. 311. Shōsō-in Treasury
There is a musical instrument called Biwa made of sandalwood inlaid with mother-of-pearl, representing vine scr
olls on the back of the instrument. (Fig. 313) Among the scrolls stand two human-headed birds with wings outstretched and tails raised high. They are Buddhist sacred birds called Kalavinka in Sanscrit. The bird is known as the owner of the most sweet and sublime voice next to Buddha, and lives in the snowcapped mountains, the Himalayas of India.
There is a unique example of lacquer jar. This jar is specially important on account of the material used under the lacquer. The shape of this jar is skilfully modeled in fine basketry work which may be noticed from the broken part. Over the basketry work is applied cloth, and then the object is lacquered black. The silver design composed of birds, deer, butterflies, clouds, and grass flowers is incrusted. The lid of the jar is modeled in the shape of a bird head, and is secured by a fine silver chain to the handle. (Fig. 314)
Fig. 312. Seven-stringed Psaltery
Shōsō-in Treasury, Nara
In the treasury are preserved about fifty beautiful mirrors. All of them are extremely fascinating and deserve special attention. They are polished bronze mirrors. Their forms are either disk or eight-petaled flower forms, both to be held by cords attached to the knobs at the center of the back. They are quite thick and heavy the largest measuring about ten inches in diameter; and are kept in wooden cases beautifully lined with padded brocade.
The designs are applied directly to their backs after Chinese style, unlike those of Greek mirrors to which ornaments are applied mostly to their attachments such as stands, or covers.
Fig. 313. Musical Instrument
Shōsō-in Treasury, Nara
The designs are composed mostly of animals, clouds, birds, flowers, and landscapes.
Speaking of the materials, gold and silver, mother-of pearl, agate and other precious stones are profusely used. As to the technical processes, some designs are cast in the same mould; but others are finely incrusted on lacquer ground. The fine spirit of composition, the richness of colors and technical precision of designs can hardly be excelled by any mirrors of Greeks and Romans, or by any later Japanese and Chinese mirrors. In Fig. 315 is shown a mirror with eight-petalled form, the back of which has a delicate floral design on a lacquered ground. Probably the most wonderful among the Shōsō-in treasures are the textile fabrics which are marvelously well preserved. Their designs, colors, and technical process are all extremely interesting in the history of textile industry of the world. As a whole, the treasures of the Shōsō-in present the best of the fine artistic objects produced in Japan in the eighth century. If they were only imported objects they would not be so wonderful. But most of them were surely made in Japan. To prove this there are many first hand documents in the treasury. Japan was then very rich and qualified to imitate the flowery life of China. Thus, Japanese could imitate Chinese culture to the fullest extent; and the treasures of the Shōsō-in most convincingly prove this fact. What they imitated in the Nara Period became the fountain-head out of which later Japanese civilization developed.
Fig. 314. Lacquer Jar
Shōsō-in Treasury, Nara
Fig. 315. Bronze Mirror
Shōsō-in Treasury, Nara
6. SHINYAKUSHI-JI MONASTERY, NARA
The Shinyakushi-ji monastery was founded in the Tempyō Era (729-748) by the Empress Kōmyō with a prayer for the Emperor Shōmu who was suffering from eye disease.
The Main Hall of the original still stands although it has been more or less modified in later ages. It is a one-storied building of seven spans at the façade and five spans at each side, and has a tiled irimoya roof. The construction of the interior is simple but has a beauty of ordered symmetry. The floor is tiled, and in the middle of the hall is a raised circular dais upon which are placed the main Buddha and his attendant figures. (Fig. 316)
Fig. 316. Interior of the Main Hall
Shinyakushi-ji, Nara
Fig. 317. Head of an Attendant of Yakushi
Shinyakushi-ji, Nara
The main figure represents Yakushi or Healing Buddha. He sits cross-legged on a high pedestal placed in the middle of the dais. The figure measures 6.3 feet in height and is a rare example of wooden statues carved out of a single block of wood. It is a gracefully rounded figure, having realistic beauty of flesh in body and limbs. At the same time it expresses spiritual magnitude through its physical gracefulness. The figure is a masterpiece produced in the early ninth century.
Around the main figure stand twelve armed clay figures which were all produced in the eighth century, except one which is the recent restoration in wood. Their postures and expressions are all different from each other and very dramatic. In Fig. 317 we have reproduced one of the heads of these figures to illustrate the force and action shown in the Nara clay sculpture of the eighth century.
7. TŌSHŌDAI-JI, THE HEAD MONASTERY OF THE RISSHŪ SECT OF BUDDHISM
The Toshōdai-ji monastery stands in a western suburb of Nara. It was founded in 759 by Ganjin, a Chinese priest of high rank, who had come to Japan with many followers a few years before, among whom were men from Persia, Champa, and Chinese Turkestan. The buildings of the monastery are said to have been built by the Persian called Nyoho who came over with the priest. However, the Kon-dō, or Golden Hall, is the only building remaining of the original. (Fig. 48)
In the Golden Hall is installed a group of magnificent dry-lacquer statues of the Tempyō Era (729-748). The main figure in the group is that of the Buddha Roshana, in a sitting posture, measuring about 10 feet in height. On either side of this figure stands Yakushi or Healing Buddha, and the one-thousand-armed Kwannon, or Senju Kwannon; the former measuring about 12 feet (Fig. 318) and the latter about 17 feet. (Fig. 319) Whoever comes to this hall and looks upon all these works of art on the dais will be surprised at the greatness of these sacred figures. They represent the most developed type of technique in dry-lacquer art. Those who are struck with the stately dignity of the facial expressions of the statues may be able to a certain extent to realize the pure, unaffected religious sentiment of the artist.
At the rear of the Golden Hall stands the Lecture Hall (Kō-dō), which is a unique example of palace buildings of the early Nara Period. (Fig. 47)
In this hall are installed a number of excellent Buddhist statues in wood. The Miroku Bodhisattva, a national treasure, is the main statue in the hall. It measures about 9 feet in height, and is a masterpiece produced in the early Kamakura Period, that is, in about the early thirteenth century.
Fig. 318.Yakushi(N.T.)
Toshodai-ji, Yamato
The following are also national treasures kept in this sacred hall besides the main figure:
The Two Guardian Kings, Jikoku-ten and Zōchō-ten. Wood. About 4 feet in height. Late Nara Period.
The Figure of the Priest Gyōgi. Wood. 3.8 feet in height. Late Nara Period.
The Figure of Dai-itoku Myō-ō. Wood. About 3 feet in height. The figure has six faces, and six arms; and is seated on the back of a buffalo. Heian Period.
The Statue of Fudō, by Tankai. Wood. About 2 feet in height. Yedo Period.
8. YAKUSHI-JI, THE HEAD MONASTERY OF THE HOSSŌ SECT OF BUDDHISM
The Yakushi-ji monastery is situated in a southwest suburb of Nara. It was one of the seven great monasteries at Nara, and was founded by the Emperor Temmu in the eighth year of his reign (680) to pray for the recovery of his Empress from an illness.
The monastery contains the three-storied stupa, the Golden Hall, theTōzen-in Hall, and other sacred buildings. Among them the three-storied stupa is the only great architecture which deserves study by students of Japanese art. However a description of it is already given in the first part of this book. (See page 96)
Fig. 319. One-thousand-armed Kwannon (N.T.)
Toshodai-ji, Yamato
In the Golden Hall is enthroned the famous Yakushi Triad cast in bronze. (Fig. 320) The triad is, indeed, the great masterpiece of this period. The main figure with its pedestal measures 14 feet in height and the attendant figures 13 feet.
In 680 in the reign of the Emperor
Temmu a vow was made to cast the statues for the recovery of the Empress from a malignant disease of the eyes. However, it is said that it was not till the eleventh year (697) in the reign of the Empress Jitō who ascended the throne on the death of the Emperor that the statues were completed. According to another tradition the casting of the figures is ascribed to the second year of Yōrō, that is, the year 718. In any case there is no difference in their greatness and they stand as impressive as ever on a dais over the marble platform. In these images we encounter the most perfectly formed features of Buddhist statuary. All three of them are superb in poise, displaying a consummate art, never attained before. The attendant Bodhisattvas, leaning towards one side, support themselves on one leg—free in attitude and yet with calm dignity. The lower half of the body is covered with drapery, and yet seems to be showing itself through it. The drapery-folds are not complicated, nor are they merely conventional: they hang softly and yet are strong in execution. Together with the double folding of the thin scarf, they greatly enhance the perfection of shape in the attending statues. The form of the central figure is also splendidly proportioned.
The pedestal of the central figure is a magnificent piece of casting. On the four sides are four Chinese sacred animals symbolizing four cardinal directions, and in front are demons in bold relief. Its edge is ornamented with the grape design particular to this period. (Fig. 321)