Japanese sculpture

• 24/07/2008 - 00:00
• Author: Yuki Sakuma
• Japan
• 0 Comments
• Read in IT

Japanese sculpture has been a tradition for almost 5,000 years. A lot of different materials has been used: baked clay, wood, clay, bronze, lacquer, stone, and many others. They have used even modern materials from overseas such as ivory.

    

The first works of Japanese sculpture which have been preserved are ceramics of the period called Jomon (12,000 - 250 B.C). Being an island, Japan developed its own style autonomously at first without influences from outside, which would be received afterwards.
The cord-patterned vessels of the Jomon period are very famous. They were decorated with markings and figures using sticks with cords on the fresh clay.

A lot of these vessels were discovered, which shows how flourishing Japanese ceramics were in ancient times.
Then Japanese civilization moved from the Yayoi period to the Kofun period.
Kofun period takes its name from Kofun, which are huge keyhole-shaped burial mounds. Inside them they have discovered the Haniwa.

Haniwa  were clay figures, maybe used as funeral offerings and as substitutes of sacrificial victims in ancient times. They were stuck into the earth near the burial area.

In fact, the cylindrical basis of the haniwa were used to drive them into the earth. Every Haniwa has a precise position, that is, the house-shaped ones were put on the top, while the human or animal-shaped ones were placed surrounding the mound. They are empty inside and the hole of the eyes make their faces ghost-like, as they seem to have inside themselves the soul of their sculptor.
With the arrival of Buddhism in Japan in 6th century, Japanese sculpture had a new flourishing period. The first works of this period are Buddha which still show some archaic traits in the faces which then evolved into absolute perfect statues with a sweetness in their gaze.
An example is the red pine wood statue of  the Bodhisattva Maitreya (Miroku in Japanese).

This beautiful red pine wood sculpture represents Miroku Bosatsu the Bodhisattva of the future, in the classical position of thinking. Maitreya meditates while sitting and waits for his coming as the new Buddha. Experts are still studying this sculpture to understand its origin: some people say it has Korean roots while others say it’s Japanese. But the use of red pine wood, which is rare in Japan, lend most to think it originated from Korea. Despite this, it remains one of the most beautiful sculptures of Japan.
Wonderful sculptures have also been made in bronze, like the one below.

This Buddha shows Tang influences, in fact Chinese and Korean influences on Japanese sculpture were strong in that period, but they were reinterpreted in a specificaly Japanese way. Absorbing influences from outside and filtering them in their own way is a peculiar Japanese characteristic.
This statue represents Buddha Yakushi (the Buddha of medicine) and was made in bronze and silver (which became oxidized, causing the blackening of the statue).
On the right and left of the Buddha there are the statue of Gakko and Nikko, respectively the Bodhisattva of the moon and the sun. They also show strong Tang influences.

There are so many other statues to tell you about, but it’s better not to put too much in, otherwise you'd probably kill me because of the length.
I hope you liked it!
Bye!