The standard expected of an imperial monastery at the end of the Asuka period may today be seen or imagined at Yakushiji. The present temple so named stands among rice fields and small villages south of Nara. It was erected there, for the ...
Once slighted as mere copying from China, the arts of Japan are now seen as a unique alternation of advances and withdrawals. At times the islanders produced Chinese-style works of great beauty, unmatched on the continent. When they chose to be independent, their art differs at every level. Sculpture, and even more painting, are concrete, sensuous, and emotional, speaking directly to all.
^Robert Treat Paine (1981). The Art and Architecture of JapanISBN 9780300053333 (revised Sep 2015)
^Robert Treat Paine and Alexander Soper (2014). The Art and Architecture of Japan; Third Edition, Yale University Press. BiggerBooks. ISBN 9780300053333 (revised Nov 2023)
