Buddhist art in Japan

Buddhism played an important role in the development of Japanese art between the 6th and the 16th centuries. Buddhist art and Buddhist religious thought came to Japan from China through Korea and Buddhist art was encouraged by Crown Prince Shōtoku in the Suiko period in the sixth century and by Emperor Shōmu in the Nara period in the eighth century. In the early Heian period Buddhist art and architecture greatly influenced the traditional Shinto arts, and Buddhist painting became fashionable among wealthy Japanese. The Kamakura period saw a flowering of Japanese Buddhist sculpture, whose origins are in the works of Heian period sculptor Jōchō. The Amida sect of Buddhism provided the basis for many popular artworks. Buddhist art became popular among the masses via scroll paintings, paintings used in worship and paintings of Buddhas, saint's lives, hells and other religious themes. Under the Zen sect of Buddhism, portraiture of priests such as Bodhidharma became popular as well as scroll calligraphy and sumi-e brush painting.

Buddhist art was introduced to Japan along with the Buddhist religion in the mid-sixth century, when according to tradition, Seong of Baekje sent a statue of the Buddha along with some sutras to the Emperor Kinmei. The Asuka period (552–645) saw the gradual growth of Chinese and Korean artistic and religious influences on Japanese culture. Chinese influence grew in the Nara Period (645–784) as the Japanese court began to model itself in a Chinese form, and Buddhism continued to spread throughout Japan, while integrating within it the Japanese religion of Shinto.

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