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INTRO PAGE
A-TO-Z PHOTO
DICTIONARY
Online
Since 1995
THE FACE OF BUDDHISM &
SHINTOISM IN JAPANESE
ART
This photo library and dictionary is a labor of love.
After moving to Kamakura in 1993, I became intrigued by the many
deities and faces of Japanese Buddhism and Shintoism. There are
dozens of temples and shrines near my home, many dating from the 8th
to 13th centuries, many open to the public. There are now 1,800+
photos in this library, ranging from the treasures of Kamakura to
those of Nara, Kyoto, and elsewhere in Japan.
Any mistakes
or omissions are my responsibility. Please contact
me if you discover any.
TIMELINE
 PREFACE
My reasons for
creating this photo dictionary are quite simple. First and foremost,
this project is a labor of love. Second, it is a tribute to
Kamakura, my home for the past 12 years, and home to dozens of
temples from the Kamakura Era (1185-1333), which still house and
display wondrous life-size wooden statues from the 8th century
onward. Third, this project was prompted by a dissatisfaction with
existing literature on Japanese Buddhist art -- especially
sculpture. I still visit book stores and libraries hunting for "the
perfect" English handbook on Japanese Buddhist sculpture. But I must
admit, I have yet to find anything that satisfies me. Mountains of
publications are out there, but in my mind they suffer from too much
preaching, promoting, inconsistency, inaccuracy, and just plain
"unreadability." There are some excellent
resources (see bibliography), mind you, but yet I'm unsatisfied.
The best of the lot, in my mind, is a book entitled Sculpture
of the Kamakura Period, by Hisashi Mori, from the Heibonsha
Survey of Japanese Art (1st Edition 1974). As for online resources,
the best database in my mind is the Japanese
Architecture and Art Net Users System (JAANUS), compiled by the
late Dr. Mary Neighbour Parent.
Fourth, and most regrettably,
the online sites of the great repositories of Japanese Buddhist
sculpture -- the national museums in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara -- don't
offer any systematic A-to-Z access to their impressive art
collections. There is no comprehensive online catalog. Even so, the
situation is much improved compared to only ten years ago, thanks
largely to advances in web technology. And to be fair, this is not
just a problem with museums in Japan. At the online sites of major
museums in America and Europe, it is likewise difficult to find what
you want, even when you know the piece is in their collection.
Thus I began, back in 1995, with my first digital camera,
along with the help of my scanner. I've been digging around ever
since. This site is my tribute to Japanese Buddhist sculpture and,
to a lesser degree, Shinto art. Finally, let me express my gratitude
and thanks to all the fine people, temples and shrines, museums, web
sites, books, magazines, and other resources that have contributed
to this ongoing project.
ABOUT THE SITE AUTHOR
- Mark Schumacher, Born 1959 (USA)
- B.A. Chinese Studies 1982 (Hamline University, Minnesota)
- M.A. Japanese Studies 1990 (Johns Hopkins, SAIS, Wash. DC)
- Resident of Japan since 1992
- Please click here for my resume
ABOUT MY SOURCES
- Please see Bibliography
for main sources
- Few primary resources (i.e., Sanskrit, Pali, or Chinese
documents) were used to construct these pages. Most information
herein comes from temple visits, temple brochures, various
dictionaries and guidebooks, museum publications (especially from
Kyoto and Nara), and hundreds of web resources. I rely mainly on
English and Japanese resources, but try to include Sanskrit,
Chinese, and other spellings whenever possible for deity names,
sutra titles, et. al. Credits for outside resources are listed
above or below the text/image. Credits may also be viewed by
holding the mouse momentarily over any specific image. About 50%
of the photos at this site are from outside sources, the rest are
by me.
- I do not profess to be a scholar of Japanese Buddhism, nor am
I "fluent" in Japanese and Chinese. I must struggle often with
obscure terms and historical references. But when comparing
several translations of the same passage or name, I sometimes
modify the passage/name to suit my own interpretation. Most of the
translations at this site are not mine, however, and such
translations are always identified in the credit.
TECHNICAL MATTERS
- Romanization. In most cases, this site uses the Hepburn system
of romanization. Nonetheless, there is no fully satisfactory way
of romanizing Japanese (or, for that matter, Chinese, Tibetan,
Korean, or Sanskrit). To provide as much precision as possible,
the Japanese ideograms (kanji) are also presented, showing both
the standard Japanese spelling and its hiragana equivalent.
- Japanese Names. Family names are shown before first names. The
Japanese do not have middle names.
- Era Names and Dates. Standard classification and dating scheme
found in both Japan and the West.
- Deity Classification. Follows the same scheme as that of the
Japanese and their Buddhist scholars.
CAVEATS, APOLOGIES, WHAT THIS
SITE "IS NOT"
This site is about JAPANESE traditions
in Buddhist sculpture and iconography. It is not a "Pan-Asian
Iconographic Guide." First, I am not qualified to discuss Buddhist
artistic traditions in India, Tibet, and Mainland Asia. That topic
is expansive, and would require the collaborative efforts of
scholars and art lovers from many countries. So please bear this in
mind as you read these pages. Although I often give the Hindu and
Chinese spellings, and try to share Buddhist lore from the broader
Asian tradition, this is just my way of "keeping notes" and learning
myself about the outside influence of greater Asia on Japan's
Buddhist traditions. My experience with Buddhist art is largely
confined to Japan, and I lack the resources to independently verify
the spellings and lore from outside this island nation. So I
apologize in advance for any factual errors that I may have
introduced when talking about non-Japanese Buddhist
traditions.
- Onmarkproductions.com
is not associated with any educational institution, private
corporation, governmental agency, or religious group. I am a
single individual, working at my own pace, limited by my own
inadequacies. No one is looking over my shoulder, so I must accept
full responsibility for any and all inaccuracies at this site. If
you discover any, please
contact me directly.
- Buddhist-Artwork.com, our sister site &
eStore, launched in July 2006. The store sells quality hand-carved
wood Buddha statues & Bodhisattva statues, especially those
carved for the Japanese market. Aimed at art lovers, Buddhist
practitioners, and laity alike, the estore is not associated with
any educational institution, private corporation, governmental
agency, or religious group.
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