Faith and Power in Japanese Buddhist Art, 1600-2005 (Repost)

Faith and Power in Japanese Buddhist Art explores the transformation of Buddhism from the premodern to the contemporary era Japan and the central role its visual culture has played in this transformation. Although Buddhism is generally regarded as peripheral to modern Japanese society, this book demonstrates otherwise. Its chapters elucidate the thread of change over time in the practice of Buddhism as revealed in temple worship halls and others sites of devotion and in imagery representing the religion's most popular deities and religious practices. It also introduces the work to modern and contemporary artists who are not generally associates with institutional Buddhism and its canonical visual requirements but whose faith inspires the art. The author makes a persuasive argument that the neglect of these materials by scholars results from erroneous presumptions about the aesthetic superiority of early Japanese Buddhist artifacts and an asserted decline in the institutional power of the religion after the sixteenth century. She demonstrates that recent works constitute as significant contribution to the history of Japanese art and architecture providing evidence of Buddhism's persistent and compelling presence at all levels of Japanese society and its evolution in response to the needs of new generation of supporters both within and beyond its orthodox institutions.