Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 7.djvu/176

 be seen in the ancient temple Horu-ji at Nara, where the walls of the principal hall have distemper paintings, described as follows by the late Dr. Anderson in one of the official catalogues of the British Museum:—

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It was through Buddhism, then, that the Japanese learned the use of applied pictorial art for purposes of architectural decoration, and they employed it freely though not in the sense of fresco-painting, for they never understood the art of mural painting upon freshly laid plaster lime with colour capable of resisting the caustic action of the lime. They attained much proficiency in the preparation and application