Buddhism is said to have entered Japan in 552. The Japanese learned that the goal of Buddhism was to enter Nirvana by removing desire from one’s life.  Before Japan embraced the intellectual aspects of Buddhism, they encountered and were in awe o Bf its beauty as depicted by the Koreans and Chinese.  It was a Korean king that first recommended that the Japanese consider Buddhism.  He felt that shared religion might help to foster their friendship and a strong alliance could develop between them.  This king sent statues of Buddha as well as sutras, both of which impressed the Japanese.  The court, however, remained divided over acceptance of Buddhism.  The Soga family was in favor of Buddhism and were put in charge of guarding the Buddha icons.  They built a temple that was torn down shortly after completion when bad circumstances were attributed to its erection.  However, when the pestilence did not cease even after a second temple was destroyed, Buddhism was no longer blamed for the epidemic and went on to survive denouncement by an emperor.  The Soga had this emperor killed, replacing him with Empress Suiko and with this the Buddhism era truly began. Buddhism and Japanese culture reciprocally influenced each other as Japan progressed from the Nara period, through the Heian period, and into the Kamakura era.  As the Japanese moved away from an infatuation with Buddhism towards a dedication to its principles and then into the emergence of independent Buddhist sects, Japanese culture enjoyed advances in art, language, and politics.
 
        The end of the Nara period is marked by the eye-opening ceremony of a giant gold-gilt Buddhist statue.  During this celebration, eyes were painted on the Buddha by Indians and the magnificent sculpture was revealed for all to marvel over.  This ceremony epitomizes Buddhism in the Nara period: full of glamour and excitement and foreign connection.  The Heian period seems to present a Japan that pays more personal attention to Buddhism than the Japan of the Nara period, giving it increasingly more merit by celebrating national heroes such as Ennin, a monk deported from China during his time of study there.  The Japanese seem to be actively working to make Buddhism their own.  This marks a move from the fascination with Buddhism that pervaded the Nara period toward a dedication to Buddhism in the Heian period.  Although Buddhism continued to grow during the Heian period, focus shifted away from the “bandwagon” of sorts that lead to a huge increase in the number of monasteries and monks during the Nara period and centered more on the individual figureheads of the faith.  Buddhism in the Heian period is marked by the return of two scholar-monks, Saicho and Kukai, to Japan after periods of study in China.  Following this homecoming was a disruption of the peace and tranquillity of Buddhism when tension developed between the respective monasteries of these monks.  The lives of the ordinary people were affected by the Jodo sect of Buddhism.  This version was simplistic, emphasizing one sacred formula necessary for salvation, the Nembustu.  This “people’s Buddhism” gave a greater sense of conviction to the common folk than did the more exclusively philosophical approach of the Nara period.
 One sentence in Morton’s text highlights the important developments in Buddhism during the Kamakura era, citing “…married clergy, the use of scriptures in the vernacular, emphasis on salvation through faith in divine grace, and…religious divisions and intolerance” as significant changes (Morton, pg. 85).  In general, there was a revival of Buddhism during this era.  It did not come rushing back as a unified institution, however.  Different sects, such as Zen Buddhism and the Pure Land Sects, began to emerge.  The Pure Land Sects were popular among common people and advocated thoughtful repetition of Amida’s name.  Honen and Shinran were the main proponents of this type of Buddhism.  Shinran insisted that Buddhist priests should have families and homes.  The division and intolerance Morton stresses really began after the triumph over the Mongols, when the priest Nichiren preached Buddhist beliefs and strong nationalism, praising the Lotus Sutra.  He viewed Buddhism as very exclusive and denounced other sects.  This man envisioned Buddhist doctrine spreading to all ends of the Earth, with Japan emerging as the heart of Buddhism.  These developments in Buddhism are significant because they reflect the general movement of Japan towards a more conflict-ridden, divided country than it had ever been before.

        Buddhism is extremely important to Japan, having served as more than merely a new religion.  With Buddhism came a change in Japanese political structure, more interest in lines of communication (highways, etc.), the practice of cremation and an end to the construction of massive tombs.  Changes in language and art also accompanied the movement of Buddhism into Japanese culture.  Most notably, the Buddhist sutras marked the introduction of the written word to Japan.  Buddhist philosophical ideas eventually made their way into the language of Japanese, for example the term mono no aware, which denotes the poignancy of the simple and inevitable pleasures and pains of fleeting life.  Japanese art, in the form of paintings as well as poetry and performances, grew to reflect the humble nature of the connection between man and nature that Buddhism promotes.  Morton comments that “…the ambiance of all these quiet but rich developments in art was the Buddhist worldview, for Buddhism influenced Japanese art profoundly” (Morton, pg 101). Noh plays use this worldview as a premise for the expression of thoughts and feelings through minimalist theatrical performances.  Buddhist thought suffuses this art-form, which stresses concentration and thought superseding words and blatant mimicry.  Similarly, the Japanese tea ceremony incorporates a myriad of Buddhist influences, including humility, peace, and simplicity.  Guests are required to remove all weaponry as well as humble themselves by entering the tea room on their knees through a small door.  Once inside, they find comfort and peace in the simple, yet elegant decor.  Both Noh and Chado (the way of the tea) demonstrate how Buddhism permeates Japanese art.

        The fact that cremation replaced entombment as the Japanese death sacrament represents more than a change in ritual practices.  Before Buddhism, the religion of Shinto was all the Japanese had and it established for them strong connotations of defilement with death.  Buddhism, then, presented the Japanese with a method for dealing with death on less distant terms.  Japanese politics were also affected by the popularization of Buddhism.  At first, Buddhism itself became an issue of debate at court. After the new religion was accepted, emperors were known to become Buddhist monks, and the government controlled ordination centers.  Interest in communication increased because monks eventually wanted to travel as missionaries, spreading Buddhist doctrine throughout Japan.  Even before missions came into effect, the monks needed a means to reach the monasteries that were built in isolation, far from the location of the court.

     Clearly, Buddhism had a tremendous impact on Japanese history, influencing the country’s development in very obvious and significant ways.  Japanese culture would have followed a vastly different path without the influence of Buddhism.  Important developments in Japanese thought and art would not have been made and Japan might not have found the source of confidence they needed to actively construct their identity independent from China.  Many facets of Japanese culture owe their evolution to the presence of Buddhism throughout Japan’s early centuries.