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Studies of Japanese Art by Period
Nara (710-794)
In addition to Suzuki's Early Buddhist Architecture (mentioned in the previous
paragraph), see Jiro Sugiyama, Classic Buddhist Sculpture, translated and
adapted by Samuel Crowell Morse (New York: Kodansha International, 1982); Minoru
Ooka, Temples of Nara and Their Art, translated by Dennis Lishka (New York:
Weatherhill, 1973) - the "art" is chiefly sculpture, and despite the title
the book examines temples not only in Nara but also in Kyoto and elsewhere; and Takeshi
Kobayashi, Nara Buddhist Art: Todai-ji, translated by Richard L. Gage (New
York: Weatherhill, 1975). Langdon Warner, Japanese Sculpture of the Tempyo Period
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959) has been superseded in much of
its scholarship, but it remains a thoughtful and readable book.
Several thousand 8th-century objects, including robes, vessels, musical instruments,
paintings, and lacquer boxes, some of which were imported from China, India, Persia,
and other countries via the Silk Road, were kept until recently in the Shosoin,
a wooden storehouse at Todaiji in Nara. On this material, see Ryoichi Hayashi, The
Silk Road and the Shoso-in, translated by Robert Ricketts (New York: Weatherhill,
1975), and The Treasures of the Shosoin, translated by S. Kaneko (Tokyo: Asahi
Shimbun, 1965), an especially handsome book.
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