first arrived in Japan in the 6th century, introduced in the year 538 or 552Brown, 1993. p. 455 from the kingdom of Baekje in Korea. The Baekje king sent the Japanese emperor a picture of the Buddha and some sutras. After overcoming brief yet violent oppositions by conservative forces, it was accepted by the Japanese court in 587. The Yamato state ruled over centered around the worship of ancestral nature deities.Brown, 1993. p. 456 It was also a period of intense immigration from Korea,Brown, 1993. p. 454 horse riders from northeast Asia, as well as cultural influence from China,Brown, 1993. p. 453 which had been unified under the Sui dynasty becoming the crucial power on the mainland. Buddhism functioned to affirm the state's power and mold its position in the broader culture of East Asia. Japanese aristocrats set about building Buddhist temples in the capital at Nara. However, the government's vast investment in spreading Buddhism during the Nara period (646-794) led to corruption, and led to reformation period and a shift in focus from Nara to the new capital of Heian (now Kyoto).The six Buddhist sects initially established in Nara are today together known as "Nara Buddhism" and are relatively small. When the capital moved to Heian, more forms of Buddhism arrived from China, including the still-popular Shingon Buddhism, an esoteric form of Buddhism similar to Tibet's Vajrayana Buddhism, and Tendai, a monastic conservative form known better by its Chinese name, Tiantai.
first arrived in Japan in the 6th century, introduced in the year 538 or 552Brown, 1993. p. 455 from the kingdom of Baekje in Korea. The Baekje king sent the Japanese emperor a picture of the Buddha and some sutras. After overcoming brief yet violent oppositions by conservative forces, it was accepted by the Japanese court in 587. The Yamato state ruled over centered around the worship of ancestral nature deities.Brown, 1993. p. 456 It was also a period of intense immigration from Korea,Brown, 1993. p. 454 horse riders from northeast Asia, as well as cultural influence from China,Brown, 1993. p. 453 which had been unified under the Sui dynasty becoming the crucial power on the mainland. Buddhism functioned to affirm the state's power and mold ,its position in the broader culture of East Asia. Japanese aristocrats set about building Buddhist temples in the capital at Nara. However, the government's vast investment in spreading Buddhism during the Nara period (646-794) led to corruption, and led to reformation period and a shift in focus from Nara to the new capital of Heian (now Kyoto).The six Buddhist sects initially established in Nara are today together known as "Nara Buddhism" and are relatively small. When the capital moved to Heian, more forms of Buddhism arrived from China, including the still-popular Shingon Buddhism, an esoteric form of Buddhism similar to Tibet's Vajrayana Buddhism, and Tendai, a monastic conservative form known better by its Chinese name Tiantai.