The influence of ancient China on Japan

从根本上说，日本在艺术、宗教、政治等诸多方面都受到了古代中国文化的影响。所以这并不奇怪，要知道即使在日本的佛教艺术和建筑上，都可以发现中国的影响是无处不在的，尤其是在飞鸟和奈良时代（公元538～794）。

Fundamentally, Japan was influenced by Chinese culture in many aspects such as art, religion and politics. So it’s not surprising to know that even in the Japanese Buddhist art and architecture, Chinese impact can be found in everywhere, especially during the Asuka and Nara eras(AD 538 to 794) (Net 1).
    The appearance and popularity of Buddhist art and architecture in Japan, undoubtedly, were the results of the introduction of the Buddhist religion in the mid-sixth century by the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and particularly Baekje which was anxious to build a peaceful relation with Japan (Net 2).
    In this essay, the definition of Buddhist art will mainly focus on the calligraphy, painting and sculpture. As for the architecture, the layouts and structure will be mentioned. Besides, since those arts have some overlaps the borders of them may not be very clear in the description. And in this essay, the influence on Japanese Buddhist art and architecture from China will be traced from two aspects: China as an originator and China as a transporter of other countries’ arts (Penelope Mason, “History of Japanese Art”, 2004).
    As the originator, Chinese influence was shown on the calligraphy, painting, sculpture and architecture. Japan adapted Chinese character in seventh and eighth century. In particular, those sutras brought to Japan by Buddhists---whether from Korea or China---were written with Chinese characters. For example, the sutra which is part of a collection as Dabaojijing  showed the great beauty of calligraphy (Penelope Mason, “History of Japanese Art”, 2004).
    As the Buddhism continued to spread throughout Japan, Chinese influence grew in the field of painting. At Koyasan, fanning in two directions, the Chinese painting is introduced and there is a picturization of figure of Bodhisattvas. The re-humanization of this image is more probably under the influence of Tendai Buddhism , which is a descendant of Chinese Tiantai or Lotus Sutra school. Another subject in the Shōsōin called biwa, on which the Chinese style impact. Two of figures on it have the dress and coiffure of Chinese children while the appearance of the other two are Central Asia. Groupings like that also can be found in the ceramic figures of Chinese tombs of the Tang dynasty. In the Tamamushi Shrine, the painting doesn’t hark back to Wei prototypes like in the Asuka period but have a more contemporaneous Chinese style (Penelope Mason, “History of Japanese Art”, 2004, 77).
    From Asuka to Nara eras, the sculpture indicates the influence of continental art as well. In Asuka period, in Japan there was a sculptor named Tori Busshi whose grandfather was a Chinese craftsman. He has a style of the Wei dynasties of northern China. In the Shaka Triad of 623, it shows the mature Wei style in China which can be found in the temples of Longmen, and the triad was intended to be viewed only from the front which is also similar to the relief carvings of Chinese cave temples. Different to its Asuka predecessors, the set of Shitennō  presents “a sense of roundness and three-dimensionality” (Penelope Mason, “History of Japanese Art”, 2004, 78) and the equivalent in the continent is the columnar style in the Chinese Northern Qi dynasty (550-77). At the Hōryūji , though six bodhisattvas also have the form that harks back to the northern Qi style, a further relaxation of rigidity shows the trend toward the “elegant curves and vitality of the early Tang dynasty” (Penelope Mason, “History of Japanese Art”, 2004, 81). Because of the Ganjin’s journey to Japan, the technique of modeling the sculpture on a wooden core and call hollow dry-lacquer were also introduced into Japan and brought great improvement on the Japanese Buddhist art.
    As for the architecture, the layouts and the name were heavily influenced by the palace-type continental architecture and they used stone flooring in order to fit the continental fashion (Net 3).
    China, acted not only as an originator but a transporter to bring other countries’ style to Japan like those Ancient Greek art style transported through the silk roads.
    In conclusion, China has had significant influence on Japanese Buddhist art and architecture from the decorations, pattern to the structure, which can be found in many subjects in Japan.

Work cited
Penelope Mason, History of Japanese Art, Prentice Hall (second editionrecised by Donald Dinwiddie), 2004.
Net 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_art_in_Japan
Net 2: Buddhism in East Asia
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/east-asia.htm
Net 3:  Chinese Influence on Japanese Art
http://murshidsam.org/Documents/Papers/Level1/Chinese_Influence_on_Japanese_Art.pdf