Sculpture

• Ortiz et al. (1976): '"Japanese art started in Dolmen period when an imperial court was established in the province of Yamato" and "the first objects were the haniwas, tomb sculptures found surrounding the ancient graves"'
• Hays (2009): '"the first settlers of Japan, who were the Jomon people, crafted figurines called dogu. Afterwards, the Yayoi people (approximately 300 B.C. to A.D. 300), whose core was a different immigrant group in the beginning of the era, manufactured copper weapons, bronze bells, and kiln-fired ceramics. Typical artifacts from the Kofun (Tumulus) period (approximately A.D. 300 to A.D. 710) that followed were bronze mirrors and clay sculptures called haniwa, which were erected outside of tombs"'
• Dogu


  Prayer figures used for prosperity and fertility
• Dogu


  • Female dogu with big butts and hips, dogu with babies in their arms, nude and pregnant female dogu, male dogu with beards and big chests
• Dogu were not associated with agriculture because they appeared in Japan before agriculture did
• Japanese Hakuho sculpture influenced by the Chinese Tang Dynasty was eventually rejected because it was considered too ornamental and excessively decorative for Japanese tastes
• The Daibutsu or The Great Buddha, a 93-ton bronze sculpture in Nara, is the second largest Buddha statue
• Shingon Esoteric Buddhism


  Considered use of art so much so that statues that are part of the Kodo Hall of the Toji Temple are particularly well-known arts, including two mystical myoo wisdom kings known as Taishakuten and Jikokuten
• Zen Buddhism had profound influences on Japanese art although Zen had a disapproval of Buddha images that consequently resulted to the birth of a new tradition of human portraits and statues that are secularized, which gained momentum in the next centuries
• Most of the sculptural works in Japan are Buddhist images made for Buddhist temples, mostly made from wood or bronze, and were made mostly by Korean and Chinese immigrants
• Four main types of Buddhist sculptures found in temples

  • Nyorai (Buddha)
  • Bosatsu (Bodhisattva)
  • Deities and spirits such as ten (heavenly beings or devas)
  • Myoo (kings of wisdom and light that serve as protectors of Buddhism)
• Main images found in Buddhist temples

  • Shaka (Historical Buddha)
  • Yakushi (Healing Buddha)
  • Amita (Buddha of the Western Paradise)
  • Dainichi (Cosmic Buddha)
  • Maiterya (Buddha of the Future)
• Different types of Buddhist wood sculptures

  • Ichiboku (statuary sculptured works made from a single block of wood)
  • Natabori (hatchet sculptures that were deliberately left notched with chisel scars)
  • Byakudan (sculptures made from sandalwood or any other fragrant wood)
• During the Nara period, Japanese sculpture reached its golden age, with images of Buddha mostly serene and made of clay, and sculptors moving from making two dimensional images into "startling, almost eerie, realistic works of art"
• The Yakushi Trias is said to be the masterpiece from the Nara period, and can be viewed at the Yakushi temple in Southern Nara, and the Ganjin statue at Nara's Toshodaiji temple
• Famous Japanese sculptors


  Kokei and Unkei