cubs. Moved by compassion, he immediately decides to give up his own life so that the tigress and her young can feed upon his body. The artist, who portrays the episode in simple and naive terms, represents three different phases of the story within the same painting. In the upper part the Buddha is seen disrobing himself; in the center he is throwing himself over the cliff; and at the bottom the tigress and her young are eating his body.
The style of the painting is extremely abstract, yet at the same time the sophisticated technique suggests that this is not a primitive type of painting evolved in Japan but an adaptation of the style of painting which flourished in China during the Six Dynasties period. The treatment of space is very two-dimensional, with the black lacquer used for the background. Against this the artist has painted in different colored lacquers, using red for the garments and some of the rocks, and green and yellow for the trees and bushes and also for other rocks and parts of the figures. The forms themselves are very stylized and the elongated bodies, which recall the slender and graceful figure of the "Kudara Kannon," reflect the style of the Sui dynasty of China. Even more abstract is the treatment of the mountainside, where rocks and rolling hills are reduced to an ornamental pattern that gives the design a striking sense of movement. A further element of movement is introduced by the descending vertical of the figure which leads the eye from the upper left to the lower right and thus, both in terms of the story as well as the design, unites the different parts of the picture. The empty space of the background is brought to life by the delicate patterns of the bamboo, as well as by the falling lotus flowers in the upper half and the hanging willow and small pines at the left. The total effect is both accomplished and charming, indicating what heights Buddhist painting had already achieved by the end of the Asuka period.
Plate 11. Aerial View of Hōryū-ji, Nara. Asuka period.
Plate 12. Kondō (Golden Hall), Hōryū-ji, Nara. Asuka period.
Plate 13. Five-Story Pagoda, Hōryū-ji, Nara. Asuka period.
Plate 14. Cloister and Central Gate, Hōryū-ji, Nara. Asuka period.
Plate 15. Tori Bushi Trinity. Asuka period.
Plate 16. Kudara Kannon. Asuka period.
Plate 17. Miroku Bosatsu (detail). Asuka period.
Plate 18. Miroku Bosatsu. Asuka period.
Plate 19. Jataka Scene, Tamamushi Shrine.
Plate 20. Gilded Bronze Banner. Asuka period.
THE CRAFTS OF THE ASUKA PERIOD
Although very few examples have been preserved, literary accounts leave little doubt that Japan of the sixth and seventh centuries was also productive in crafts. The Tamamushi Shrine shows the skill which had been developed in the art of lacquer and metalwork, and there certainly must have been many other works in these media which have perished during the intervening centuries. The most outstanding example of Asuka metalwork surviving today is the famous gilded bronze banner, or ban, which was used for ceremonial occasions at Hōryū-ji (Plate 20). It consists of a square canopy, strings of gems, and metal banners, the main one of which is five meters long. The design on the canopy shows Apsarases, or music-making Buddhist angels, while the hanging sections portray bodhisattvas, Apsarases, and Buddhist reliquaries. The workmanship, which is both skillful and delicate, shows a style quite similar to that of the Tamamushi Shrine—in fact the vine motif in the border is almost identical in both. This motif is, interestingly enough, a very ancient one which comes from Korea and China and was originally derived from even more distant countries. The emphasis in the bronze banner is upon the flowing, rhythmical movement of draperies and flying figures, a movement which is reinforced by the use of incised lines. The draperies swirl in charming arabesques, and the figures, which are elongated like those in the sculptures and paintings of the period, have a freedom which makes them virtually float in the air. Often a body is reduced to a simple, curving form, but it is rendered so skillfully that it creates a fine suggestion of reality. There is a strong over-all pattern, also very beautiful, which is achieved by the contrast of the gilded bronze with the cut-out areas.
In the field of pottery, the output of the Asuka period was probably much less remarkable, if we can judge from the scanty remains. Apparently Sue ware similar to that of the grave-mound period continued to be made, the body dark grey and at times covered with a greenish glaze. The quality of this pottery was not very outstanding, and there is little evidence of any new or original developments.
If the pottery was inferior, textiles seem to have flourished. Some beautiful fragments of Asuka textiles have been preserved at Hōryū-ji which show considerable variety both in design and technique. The most remarkable is the banner which, according to literary accounts, Princess Tachibana and her court lathes embroidered in 622 in memory of Shōtoku Taishi. The subject portrayed is the rebirth of the Prince in paradise, and it was hoped that his chances for eternal bliss might be furthered by this act. Only parts of the banner remain, but the quality of the silk and the needlework is very fine. Temples, human beings, lotus flowers, phoenixes, a tortoise, and the moon with the hare in it are represented. The style is similar to that of other works of this period, showing the same kind of abstraction.
The Asuka period, which was the first great creative period of Buddhist art in Japan, was a most remarkable one, for even though relatively few monuments have survived, those that have are of the highest artistic quality. Although the inspiration for the art came from China by way of Korea, the Japanese must be given credit for the way in which they responded to this new culture. In spite of the relatively primitive art which they had previously produced, in little more than a generation they were able not only to master the foreign art but to equal it in quality and variety, an accomplishment which certainly shows their artistic genius. It might also be said that since many of these art forms, although originating in China, have not been preserved in China itself, the Japanese examples are unique not only for the study of Japanese art but for that of China and Korea as well. This is especially true of the temple buildings and the wood carvings, of which no equivalents have been found in China. The fact that so much has been preserved by the Japanese is in itself indicative of the artistic culture of Japan, where, throughout the ages, works of art have been held in the highest esteem.
3
The Art of the Nara Period
THE Nara period, especially the eighth century, was the golden age of Japanese Buddhist art. This epoch, which extends from the middle of the seventh to the end of the eighth century, is usually divided into two parts, the Early Nara period, from 646 to 710, which is also called Hakuho after the reign of the Emperor Temmu, and the Nara period proper which lasted from 710, when the capital was established at Nara, to 794, when it was moved to Heian-Kyo, as the present-day Kyoto was called. (This latter part is also referred to as the Tempyō period after the reign of the Emperor Shomu,