Japanese Buddhist Sculpture

The official history of Japanese Buddhist sculpture purportedly begins when emissaries from the Korean kingdom of Baekje presented Emperor Kinmei with a gilt bronze statue of Śākyamuni Buddha and other precious Buddhist objects in the mid-6th century. Statues of Buddhist deities were first and foremost considered divine and efficacious, enshrined as main icons of worship and ritual practices inside Buddhist temples or other ritualized spaces. As the physical embodiments of Buddhist divinities, we must contend with how the limitations of the modern, art historical term sculpture (J. chōkoku) affect the scope of inquiry. Japanese Buddhist images came to be considered “works of art” and “aesthetic objects” with the modernization and Westernization of Japan in the late 19th century. With the establishment of the Japanese National Treasure and Important Cultural Property system by the Japanese government, Buddhist sculptures were conferred a new status as exemplars of fine art and culturally significant objects and thus were organized into a canonical body of art works. This article is therefore meant to help readers navigate the complex and salient question: “What is Japanese Buddhist sculpture?” After presenting general overviews and references, the first theme consists of citations organized under Icons, which is an inclusive, broad, and multidisciplinary term that bridges the gap between three-dimensional Buddhist forms and their religious functions. It is now more common to refer to Buddhist sculptures as “Buddhist icons” to acknowledge their fundamental roles in Buddhist devotional practice and ritual. This article also takes a broad perspective on sculpture to include sacred Buddhist objects such as reliquaries, bells, and ritual equipment. The sections that follow, with much overlap, are based upon trends that show how scholars grapple with particular issues. Early citations tend to focus on stylistic development. Closely intertwined is the focus on a particular period (Period-Specific Studies). Iconography and Iconology has also been a mainstay for the study of Buddhist sculpture. Other themes are broken down by religious affiliations, devotional cults of specific deities, Site-Specific Studies, named sculptors, materials, and techniques employed. The theme of Cultural Interactions responds to the fact that Japanese sculpture was not created in isolation from the rest of Asia. This article targets a multidisciplinary English-language readership of researchers who are in the beginning stages of their studies. With a few exceptions, non-English-language sources were excluded and, for brevity, PhD dissertations were generally excluded.