The Four Great Temples

Buddhist Art, Archaeology, and Icons of Seventh-Century Japan

Donald F. McCallum

Few periods in Japanese history are more fascinating than the seventh century. This was the period when Buddhism experienced its initial flowering in the country and the time when Asukadera, Kudara Odera, Kawaradera, and Yakushiji (the "Four Great Temples" as they were called in ancient texts) were built. Despite their enormous historical importance, these structures have received only limited attention in Western litera­ture, primarily because they are now ruins. Focus has been placed instead on Horyuji, a beautifully preserved structure, but not a key temple of the period. Donald McCallum seeks in this volume to restore the four great temples to their proper place in the history of Japanese Buddhism and Buddhist archi­tecture.

In his detailed analyses of each of the four temples, McCallum considers historiograph-ical issues, settings and layouts, foundations, tiles, relics, and icons and allows readers to follow their chronological evolution. A key feature is the interweaving of archaeological and documentary data to clarify numerous historical problems that have until now resisted plausible solutions. Although the focus is on temples, the book looks at broad­er political and religious developments that serve as a context for the study.

Donald F. McCallum is professor of Japanese art history at the University of California, Los Angeles.

BUDDHISM | ART | ARCHAEOLOGY I HISTORY DECEMBER 2008

6.125 X 9.25, EST 360PP, 118 ILLUS 978-0-8248-3114-1  CL $38.00s

(University of Hawai’i Press)