Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/150

 prosperity were detected, or an imperial prince (Yoshimune, 803) invented the water-wheel, at another Buddhist prelates of the highest rank travelled about the country, and showed the people how to make roads, build bridges, construct reservoirs, and dredge rivers. Stud farms and cattle pastures were among the institutions of the era, so that, on the whole, agriculture must be said to have reached a tolerably high standard.

But beyond doubt the most noteworthy development of all took place in the domain of art. The student is here confronted by one of the strangest facts in Japan's story. There are ample reasons for concluding that when Buddhism was introduced in the middle of the sixth century, both pictorial art and applied art were at an altogether rudimentary stage in Japan. There was considerable skill in the casting, chiselling, and general manipulation of metals for the purpose of decorating weapons of war and horse-trappings, or manufacturing articles of personal adornment, but artistic sculpture and painting were virtually unknown. Yet, before the lapse of a hundred years, both had been carried to a high standard of excellence, sculpture specially reaching a point never subsequently surpassed,—a point which, under ordinary circumstances, should have marked the zenith of a long orbit of evolution. It is customary to dismiss this enigma by attributing the best achievements of the time entirely to Korean and Chinese immigrants, and certainly