Heian Period

Buddhism

A pair of Buddhist monks brought new Buddhist sects to Japan from China with imperial support, completing the eclipse of the Nara faction's power. Tendai was brought by Saichō, and Shingon was established by Kūkai, especially noted not only for his holiness but for his poetry, calligraphy, painting, and sculpture. He was eventually appointed head of the Tō temple.

Shingon Buddhism emphasizes the use of symbols, rituals, incantations and mandalas. Mandalas are believed to represent different aspects of the universe and are used as instruments of meditation and symbols of prayer.

These new sects eventually combined with aspects of Shitōism, the original native religion in Japan. Shintō deities (kami) were unseen, formless spirits personifying aspects of nature. Combined with Buddhism, they became concrete and identified with alternate versions of Buddhist deities. Shintō’s emphasis on nature led to rivers, trees, and distinctive rock formations being viewed as topographic mandalas, greatly expanding the repertoire of symbols available to religious artists. The resulting religious mix is unique to Japan.

In the tenth century, a new form of Buddhism based on worship of Amida Buddha arrived in Japan. This new sect believed that virtuous souls migrated after death to a "Western Paradise." Its arrival inspired another round of religious imagery and statue making.

The Phoenix Hall at the Byōdō Temple in Uji (near Kyōtō), originally constructed as a residence for the Fujiwara clan, is an architectural masterpiece dedicated to Amidism. It resembles a bird in flight when viewed from the front.

Among its many treasures is a sculpture of Amida Buddha by Jōchō, one of the most innovative artists Japan has ever produced. His sculptures consist of single figures made from many blocks of wood secured together internally. His styles and techniques were copied for the next 150 years.

Isolation

Japan has had several periods in which it was isolated from the rest of the world. Turmoil on the mainland in the 10th century led to Japan's closure again, freeing it to evolve culturally without outside influence. It benefited in a number of ways.

Since at least 712, Japan had been using kanbun, a form of Chinese writing with modifications to incorporate uniquely Japanese forms and syntactical structures. Further language reform in this period resulted in the development of kana, the phonetic writing syllabaries hirakana and katakana in use today along with kanji, the evolved remainder of the original Chinese logograms. One benefit of the new system is that it required significantly less education to be able to communicate effectively in written Japanese.

Calligraphy became an art form in itself, allowing variations in the shape of characters to be a form of expression. This is a section of the Hoke-kyō sutra from the 11th century.

Literary activity exploded. Poetry evolved rapidly and became a favorite form of written expression, particularly the waka form with thirty-one syllables. Poetry became a staple of court life, and aristocrats, male and female alike, were expected to be able produce poetry on par with their social status. Kokinshu (“Collection from Ancient and Modern Times”) was a major poetry anthology sponsored by the emperor in the early tenth century.

One of the most important literary works of the time is Ise Monogatari (Tales of Ise) which combined poetry with frame stories. One of its poems is arguably the most famous in all of Japanese literature. The frame story involves a poet who was exiled from the capitol. He and his traveling companions come to an iris bog called yatsuhashi (eight bridges). This was a real place. Pausing for a meal of rice, one of the companions challenged the poet to compose a poem on the subject, "A traveler's sentiments," beginning each line with a syllable from the word kakitsubata (the Japanese word for the type of iris found there). Here is the poem:

Without getting into the technical details of waka poetry, this work is considered to be a major tour de force, and it is well known to virtually all educated Japanese (nearly the whole population). It and others like it have inspired artists through the centuries. One example is this Japanese National Treasure byōbu by Edo period artist, Ogata Kōrin (1658 – 1716), one of the founders of the Rinpa school of art.

There is a companion byōbu that has the other four bridges.

It became common in the Heian period to combine paintings and poetry in the same works of art.

Another great literary work of the period is Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji) by Lady Murasaki or Murasaki Shikibu, a member of the powerful Fujiwara family and a lady-in-waiting in the imperial court. Considered by many to be the first novel ever written and still one of the best, it tells the story of Genji, the son of an emperor by a concubine. Some of his experiences take place in Phoenix Hall, shown in a picture above.

Later in the Heian period, a long picture scroll (emaki) was painted with scenes depicting Genji's tale. It was the first of many depictions of the story by Japanese artists. Here is one of the scenes in the emak

Another famous Heian period emaki is Chōjū jinbutsu giga (Frolicking Humans and Animals) depicting anthropomorphized animals in satirical ways. This is a small portion of it.