Page:Brinkley - The Art of Japan, vol. 1.djvu/30

14 helpful to trace the record back to its very alphabet; but unfortunately the materials are not sufficient for accurate analysis. If the most profound students take the latter half of the sixth century as the opening era, it is not because they believe the preceding cycles to have been entirely barren, but because the spread of Buddhism at that time supplied the first elevating impulse, as well as the first means of preserving and transmitting the art products of the time. There is no apparent possibility of determining, however, whether the scanty specimens transmitted from the sixth century and the first half of the seventh were the work of Japanese, Chinese, or Korean hands. Not until the end of the seventh century does solid ground present itself, and we then find Japan in such close contact with China that a full tide of civilization flowed from the latter to the shores of her neighbour—civilization which, so far as its artistic side is concerned, was permeated with Indo-Grecian influences. The materials for study now cease to be few and apocryphal. A very considerable number of authenticated sculptures, several paintings, and a remarkably full assemblage of examples of applied art, illustrate the culture of the epoch.

To this time we owe the celebrated collection preserved in an imperial store-house called the Shoso-in at Nara. Nara was the capital of Japan and the residence of the Imperial Court from 709 to 749 During not merely that interval but also for some forty years subsequently, the priests of Horiuji, to which temple the Shoso-in is attached, received from the palace various memorial relics, so that the Shoso-in collection ultimately comprised specimens of the ornaments, utensils, robes, musical instruments, etc., used by three Emperors and three Empresses, from 709 to 784  This collection, supplemented by temple treasures, brings us into intimate touch with the civilization of the era. We can speak of it confidently. As to sculpture, the point of excellence to which it had been carried is attested by two figures of the Deva Kings which form part of the Nara relics. These are magnificent carvings. Dr. Anderson, in his excellent work, speaks enthusiastically of “the vigour of action, truth of proportion, and wonderful accuracy of anatomical form” that they display. It may, indeed, be objected that they are instinct with suppressed ferocity and implacable menace, rather than with lofty benignity and calm resolve. But no critic can deny that they belong to a very high realm of artistic conception and technical skill. Tradition assigns them to the chisel of an anonymous Korean sculptor. But no such sculptures have hitherto been found in either Korea or China. Here we are confronted by one of the difficulties besetting every effort to decipher the alphabet of Japanese art. Working in the service of religion, the Japanese artist buried his individuality in his purpose; and, on the other hand, since Korea originally transmitted Buddhism to Japan—and China during several centuries remained the sole source of its exegesis—the priests and propagandists of the faith were naturally disposed to claim the cachet of Korean and Chinese artists for the decoration and equipment of sacred edifices. The