TY - BOOK AU - Patricia Jane Graham TI - Faith and power in Japanese Buddhist art, 1600-2005 / SN - 9780824831912 U1 - REF 700.4829430952 G76 PY - 2007/// CY - Honolulu PB - University of Hawai'i Press KW - ART Reference KW - ART Performance KW - Buddhism Japan History 1600-1868 KW - Buddhist arts N1 - Part I. Buddhism in the arts of early modern Japan, 1600-1868 Institutional Buddhism under warrior rule Buddhist temples for the elites Temples for commoners Depictions of popular deities and spiritual concerns Professional icon-makers Expressions of faith Part II. Buddhist imagery and sacred sites in modern Japan, 1868-2005 Buddhist institutions after an era of persecution, 1868-1945 From icon to art, 1868-1945 Buddhist sites of worship, 1945-2005 Visualizing faith, 1945-2005 N2 - "Faith and Power in Japanese Buddhist Art explores the transformation of Buddhism from the premodern to the contemporary era Japan and the central role its visual culture has played in this transformation. Although Buddhism is generally regarded as peripheral to modern Japanese society, this book demonstrates otherwise. Its chapters elucidate the thread of change over time in the practice of Buddhism as revealed in temple worship halls and others sites of devotion and in imagery representing the religion's most popular deities and religious practices. It also introduces the work to modern and contemporary artists who are not generally associates with institutional Buddhism and its canonical visual requirements but whose faith inspires the art. The author makes a persuasive argument that the neglect of these materials by scholars results from erroneous presumptions about the aesthetic superiority of early Japanese Buddhist artifacts and an asserted decline in the institutional power of the religion after the sixteenth century. She demonstrates that recent works constitute as significant contribution to the history of Japanese art and architecture providing evidence of Buddhism's persistent and compelling presence at all levels of Japanese society and its evolution in response to the needs of new generation of supporters both within and beyond its orthodox institutions."-- publisher ER -