2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Study of the Regional Development of Nara-period Buddhism
| Project/Area Number |
11610336
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Japanese history
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| Research Institution | Tsukuba University |
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Principal Investigator |
NEMOTO Seiji Tsukuba University, Institute of History and Anthropology, Asistant Professor, 歴史・人類学系, 助教授 (10250995)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1999 – 2000
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| Keywords | Nara Buddhism / Kitakami district / Gyoki / Aizu district / Tokuitsu / Taicho / Japanese Buddhist Art |
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| Research Abstract |
Until recently, previous scholarship has characterized the Buddhism of the Nara period as a religion distinguished by difficult doctrinal exegeses. Moreover, this characterization states that as the religion representative of the central cultural authority of the period, Buddhism penetrated into the provinces through the kokubunji system and other means essentially as the result of political motivations. Consequently, research on the development of Nara Buddhism in the provinces has been mainly consisted of studies of the kokubunji and the sites of other temples associated with various provincial headquarters. In addition, much of the other research on Nara Buddhism has centered on the government-supported temples in the capital and neighboring districts, as well as on the high-ranking priests who supported them and also on understanding their scholarship. In contrast, this project has taken the Kitagami district in Iwate Prefecture, the Aizu district in Fukushima Prefecture, the Kohok
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u district in Shiga Prefecture, as well as the Ariake district in Saga Prefecture as its focus. It draws hints from the legends and tales associated with the eminent priests who sustained Nara Buddhism in the provinces, figures such as Gyoki, Tokuitsu, and Taicho in order to find documentary evidence to permit a clarification of the special characteristics of their beliefs. Through an assessment of the results of this work, it has been possible to clarify some of the belief systems of Nara Buddhism. And as part of this process it was possible to document groups of statues which are said to have been produced by these eminent monks. In particular, in each region it was possible to discover statues of the Healing Buddha and Eleven-headed Kannon said to have been made by them. The evidence presented by Buddhist art permits the hypothesis that these monks used belief in these two deities as a vehicle to spread Buddhism into the provinces. The sources for research on Nara Buddhism should continue to expand in the future. The next task will be to further ascertain the nature of the system of belief as well as a fixed chronology of Nara Buddhism as documented by these statues using perspectives not only from this history of religion, but also from the history of Japanese Buddhist art. Less
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Research Products
(4 results)
