Events
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| 1190s .1200s in art. 1210s |
| Other events: 1200s . Art timeline |
The decade of the 1200s in art involved some significant events.
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Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Japan. The construction of the temple was an attempt to imitate Chinese temples from the much-admired Tang dynasty. Though it was originally founded in the year 738 CE, Tōdai-ji was not opened until the year 752 CE. The temple has undergone several reconstructions since then, with the most significant reconstruction taking place in 1709. Its Great Buddha Hall houses the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese as Daibutsu (大仏). The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the Kegon school of Buddhism. The temple is a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara", together with seven other sites including temples, shrines and places in the city of Nara.
Unkei was a Japanese sculptor of the Kei school, which flourished in the Kamakura period. He specialized in statues of the Buddha and other important Buddhist figures. Unkei's early works are fairly traditional, similar in style to pieces by his father, Kōkei. However, the sculptures he produced for the Tōdai-ji in Nara show a flair for realism different from anything Japan had seen before. Today, Unkei is the best known of the Kei artists, and many art historians consider him its "most distinguished member".
Kōfuku-ji is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples in the city of Nara, Japan. The temple is the national headquarters of the Hossō school.
Kaikei (快慶) was a Japanese Busshi of Kamakura period, known alongside Unkei. Because many busshi of the school have a name including kei (慶), his school is called Kei-ha. Kaikei being also called Annami-dabutsu (安阿弥陀仏), his style is called Anna-miyō and is known to be intelligent, pictorial and delicate. Most of his works have a height of about three shaku, and there are many of his works in existence.
Sculpture in Japan began with the clay figure. Towards the end of the long Neolithic Jōmon period, "flame-rimmed" pottery vessels had sculptural extensions to the rim, and very stylized pottery dogū figures were produced, many with the characteristic "snow-goggle" eyes. During the Kofun period of the 3rd to 6th century CE, haniwa terracotta figures of humans and animals in a simplistic style were erected outside important tombs. The arrival of Buddhism in the 6th century brought with it sophisticated traditions in sculpture, Chinese styles mediated via Korea. The 7th-century Hōryū-ji and its contents have survived more intact than any East Asian Buddhist temple of its date, with works including a Shaka Trinity of 623 in bronze, showing the historical Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas and also the Guardian Kings of the Four Directions.
Kōkei was a Japanese sculptor of the Kamakura period. He headed the Kei school during the reconstructions of Tōdai-ji and Kōfuku-ji. Although his works are still largely in the style established by Jōchō in the Heian period, Kōkei's sculpture show a move toward the greater realism that characterizes the works of his disciples Unkei, Kaikei, and Jōkei.
Jōkei (定慶) was a Japanese sculptor of the Kei school, which flourished in the Kamakura period. Aside from his artwork, Jōkei left little record of his life, so sorting out the details of his biography is difficult. The fact that two men by that name were working in Nara in the 13th century only complicates matters.
Nara Park is a public park located in the city of Nara, Japan, at the foot of Mount Wakakusa. Established in 1880, it is one of the oldest parks in Japan. Administratively, the park is under the control of Nara Prefecture. The park is one of the "Places of Scenic Beauty" designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Over 1,200 wild sika deer freely roaming around in the park are also under designation of MEXT, classified as natural treasure. While the official size of the park is about 502 hectares, the area including the grounds of Tōdai-ji, Kōfuku-ji, Kasuga Grand Shrine and Nara National Museum, which are either on the edge or surrounded by Nara Park, is as large as 660 hectares.
Nanto Shichi Daiji (南都七大寺), literally "the seven great temples of the southern capital ", is a historical common name generally referring to the powerful and influential seven Buddhist temples located in the Nara prefecture. There have been some changes as to which temples are included over the years, since there have been fluctuations in power. The following is a list as it stood at the early stage, all of which were originally built by imperial order:
Buddhism played an important role in the development of Japanese art between the 6th and the 16th centuries. Buddhist art and Buddhist religious thought came to Japan from China through Korea. Buddhist art was encouraged by Crown Prince Shōtoku in the Suiko period in the sixth century, and by Emperor Shōmu in the Nara period in the eighth century. In the early Heian period, Buddhist art and architecture greatly influenced the traditional Shinto arts, and Buddhist painting became fashionable among wealthy Japanese. The Kamakura period saw a flowering of Japanese Buddhist sculpture, whose origins are in the works of Heian period sculptor Jōchō. During this period, outstanding busshi appeared one after another in the Kei school, and Unkei, Kaikei, and Tankei were especially famous. The Amida sect of Buddhism provided the basis for many popular artworks. Buddhist art became popular among the masses via scroll paintings, paintings used in worship and paintings of Buddhas, saint's lives, hells and other religious themes. Under the Zen sect of Buddhism, portraiture of priests such as Bodhidharma became popular as well as scroll calligraphy and sumi-e brush painting.
The decade of the 1220s in art involved some significant events.
The decade of the 1210s in art involved some significant events.
The decade of the 1180s in art involved some significant events.
The decade of the 1190s in art involved some significant events.
The Kei school was a Japanese school (style) of Buddhist sculpture which emerged in the early Kamakura period. Based in Nara, it was the dominant school in Buddhist sculpture in Japan into the 14th century, and remained influential until the 19th. Art historian Joan Stanley Baker cites the Kei school's early works as the last highpoint in the history of Japanese sculpture.
The Tōdai-ji Hachiman is a syncretic Shinto-Buddhist sculpture of the kami Hachiman carved in 1201 by Buddhist sculptor Kaikei. Currently housed in the Hall of Hachiman (Hachiman-den) in Tōdai-ji, it is classified as a National Treasure of Japan since 19 February 1957, and is the only syncretic piece by him.
The Boston Miroku is a Kamakura period wooden sculpture of Maitreya, the Buddha of the future. Carved by the Buddhist sculptor Kaikei in 1189, it was once held and venerated at Kōfuku-ji, Nara until the temple sold it in 1906. It was then acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1920. It is considered to be the earliest extant work of Kaikei, who is recognized for his works as part of the Kei school of Buddhist sculpture.
The Burke Jizō is a 13th century wooden statue of the bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha, carved in the around 1202 by the sculptor Kaikei. Originally held at Kōfuku-ji, it was held in private collections for many years, including that of American collector Mary Griggs Burke (1916–2012), whereupon in 2015, her collection was bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art among which includes this statue.
Kōen was a Japanese Buddhist sculptor (busshi) of the Kei school in Nara during the Kamakura period. A grandson of the sculptor Unkei, and apprenticed by his uncle Tankei, he carried on the Kei school during the late Kamakura period, which is known for adding realism to Japanese Buddhist sculpture, which have reflected and influenced later periods of Buddhist art.