Comparing The Dunhuang Caves Of China And Japan

Imagine yourself being a Confucian scholar-official from Song-dynasty China, and you had a chance travelling to Heian-kyo during Machinaga’s time. What observations can you make about the similarities and differences between Chinese and Japanese societies? Based on your observations, which part of Japanese society deserves compliments? Which part needed to be

Japan is described as a country of wood, and the reverence of natural materials. The depths of the love and admiration that the Japanese people have for wood are famous, which is similar to the Greek love of pristine marble and its smooth surfaces. This can be seen in an old Japanese expression "plants and trees all have something to say", Japanese believe that trees have a soul and say they can sense spirits, or "kami", within them. It is trees that form the core which nurtures the sensibilities about nature held by the Japanese people. It is thus natural for architecture in Japan to be based on wood. Many structures are made of wood, ranging from shrines and temples to palaces and homes, and in doing so grand structures have been created (Stokstad).

Tokugawa rulers during the 17th century greatly improved a multitude of separate political aspects and as a result, positively impacted the nation and citizens. A primary example of this is Tokugawa’s establishment of the capital at Edo which in present day Japan is called the iconic Tokyo. Additionally, he established a strong central government, along with his shoguns imposing an era of unity, stability, and peace in Japan. The shoguns closely monitored and controlled the local daimyo possessed a relative amount of power but remained to be tested for their loyalty and kept under control by the shoguns who restricted their family and eventually became hostages. The daimyo was required to maintain two residences in an attempt to prevent rebellion because of this wasting factor which prohibited them as they had minuscule amounts of time to construct a powerful army due to constantly needing to defend two residences. The Tokugawa period was an era of peace, stability, and

Similarities, shared between modern China and Japan, are abundant. Firstly, the geographic location of both countries is similar, due to the fact that both are located in Asia, towards the west. Apart from location, the topography of China and Japan alike as well. Japan includes a rugged and mountainous

Continuing with the theme of visual imagery from this icon, Buddhist icons often carry much meaning in the orientation of the body of figurines, and hand gestures. This standing Bodhisattva has his eyes shut in a meditative state, while the hands

These two seated Buddha represent the meaning and the embodiment of Buddha. Both of these sculptures convey Buddha and represent key aspects of Buddhism, but these two sculpture do not convey and represent the symbolism entirely of what Buddha is in other art pieces. Rock cut stone sculpture of Buddha is represented in a peaceful nature as he gives the first sermon, the sun, the lotus flower, the knot on his head, the elongated earlobes, the slightly closed eyes and cherubs up above are common symbols that represent Buddha. Where the Grand Buddha at Ling Shan is an 88 metre tall bronze statue, that stand upward, and has very little Buddha symbolism represented. He has the knot on his head, slightly closed eyes, standing on an opened lotus flower

It was here where Shōtoku taught the idea that Buddhism could exist with Shrine to which was the official Religion of Japan. The structure had an asymmetrical layout, which differed from any of the temples. The Buddhism Period continued through the Nara period, Buddhism extended from the religious temples to the courts. This is where Japan becomes a hierarchical society, all of the powers come from the emperor. As religion shifts from the temples and made its way into politics, the location of the settlement did as well. Instead of settling in the rural parts of the country, they settled in the city. Although they settled in the city, they still used the land and built close to their natural materials. The shift to the city made the gap between

I remember from class that it had elongated ears, protuberance on the head and monks’ robe. It had central Asian influences like, mask like face and shallow, stylized drapery. It is less human than more sensuous expression. And the image of the Buddha became more formal and unearthly as Buddhism traveled east from India.

Buddhism monks who had privilege of clergy in Tokugawa ear face unprecedented hardship with starting Meiji by the new government's policy of the Ordinance Distinguishing Shinto and Buddhism to deprive their privileges and properties, to be destroyed temples in opposition to preferential Shinto; however, Buddhist did not accept without resistance that some monks, such as Utida Udo, made resistance to new government at the risk of their life.

It is the world’s largest cave that has more than 8.7 kilometers long (Trainer). It is 600 feet in height, 3.1 miles long, and 490 feet in width. The cave was created five million years ago by water evoding away the limestone underneath the mountain; once the limestone was really weak the ceilings collapsed ad it created some huge skylights (Milklusak). Son Doong Cave is mostly made of limestone and it has some calcite in it. Son Doong Cave is home to the large Rao Thouvg River and it is home to mon keys, flying foxes, giant trees, and tropical palms (Trainer). It was founded by Ho Khanh in 1991 but it wasn’t discovered until 2009 by a British Cave Research Association. One of an interesting thing that the cave has inside of it is the 60-meter-high calcite wall called the Great Wall of Vietnam (“Song Doong Cave”) . The cave also has lakes, beaches, rivers, animal life, and huge trees inside of it. It also has a 70-meter-tall stalagmite which makes the cave look even bigger. Son Doong has rare pearls that were shaped by water drops and they can be as big as

In 366 AD, a man named Yuezun arrived to Dunhuang, China, which is the northwestern part of the country. He had arrived to Dunhuang to find his path of enlightenment for religious purposes in order to become a Buddhist monk. As he prayed and meditated not exactly sure how long since his arrival, he was given a sign through his enlightenment to create a shrine to acknowledge Buddha. Thus creating the Mogao caves within Dunhuang, China. This sign that he was given was known as “Caves of the Thousand Buddhas” because while at Mount Sanwei in Dunhuang, he saw a gold light that was bright and shown him glowing Buddhas all around the mountain.

State Shinto felt threatened by other religions, especially the presence of Buddhism and Christianity in Japan. Hardacre stated, “Buddhist priests inevitably held higher positions and commanded greater administrative authority than shine priests. Shine priests were seated lower than Buddhist clerics at village assemblies.” The Japanese people were uncomfortable with Western values and religion as they feared it would cause Japanese culture to decay, especially for state Shinto. Consequently, Buddhist temples were systematically destroyed and Christian churches were forced into hiding because Shinto shrines had to be dominant in society and new religions were “frequently prosecuted and

The Japanese had Buddhism and Confucianism, similar to China. Those two religions had spread to Japan from China, and they were prevalent in both Japan and Chinese dynasties. However, the Japanese also had different religions. For example, the Japanese had the Shinto religion which was unique to Japan and is still practiced today. The Shinto religion worshiped Kamis, which were spirits or phenomenons.

Buddhism and Confucianism were two critical religious frameworks in China, but were taken by the Japanese. The Japanese then reshaped them to fit Japanese lifestyles, making them different types of similar religions. The same went for workmanship and design in light of the fact that the Japanese appreciated Chinese craftsmanship while including their own particular style. The Japanese also demonstrated their legal system after the Chinese style by utilizing their own Royal Court. Though both countries had an Imperial Court as a form government in the past, the Japanese Ruler embraced numerous parts of the Chinese style, including their versions of various titles, ranks and official functions. The first established form of their constitution was heavily influenced by the way the Chinese could handle such a brought together and composed government. It’s clear that Japan actually just lived in China’s shadow for the past few centuries or so.

The second most important point on the Silk Road is the city of Dunhuang. Dunhuang provided not only a strategic point for the Chinese military and a launching point for caravans going westward, but also had a large cultural impact on Buddhism with the Mogao caves just south of the city. Despite the fact that Chinese dynasties throughout the years claimed territory west of Dunhuang and reinforced it with some military support and the Great Wall, Dunhuang provided a key chokepoint to the large interior of China. The “funnel” effect was caused by a mountain range to the south that is “high enough to serve as barriers to invasion” and the Great Wall of China to the north which stretched “well beyond Dunhuang… to defend against nomadic incursions”