Question

The relationship between Buddhism and Japanese arts. Select one of the arts discussed in the reading for this week and explain the relationship between religion and artistic production. As part of your response, conduct a brief internet search and provide an image of piece of multimedia that illustrates your selected art form and help illustrates your response.

Answer 1

Religion and art are closely related to each other. Religious art or the sacred art is the outcome of artistic imagery which uses religious inspirations and motifs and is often intended to uplift the mind to the spiritual level. Sacred art involves the ritual and cultic practices and practical and operative aspects of the path of the spiritual realization within the artist's religious tradition.

Here I will discuss about the Buddhist Art and religion.Buddhist art originated in Indian subcontinent during 5^th and 6^th B.C and thereafter spread throughout Asia and other countries by coming into contact of cultures of different countries. It developed to the north through Central Asia and into Eastern Asia to form the Northern branch of Buddhist art, and to the east as far as Southeast Asia to form the Southern branch of Buddhist art. Buddhist art and Buddhist religious thought came to Japan from China through Korea .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