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books on the subject. I would, however, herein sketch the general outline of the history of our art and our notions about it. The Nara period, which corresponds to the Western eighth century, was one of the great, if not the greatest, epochs of our art. Nara was our Imperial capital preceding that of Kyoto. The remnants of the art of this period, including many of the previous century, are to be seen to this day mostly in the Prefecture of Nara. The highest excellence of art attained at this period was in the images, both in bronze and wood, and also in the dried lacquers; the pictorial art was also excellent, side by side with the architectural. Even artificial stone (concrete) was in use. Many of the Buddhistic temples of olden times are still remaining, and numerous images of the above description are to be seen in them, besides an Imperial museum. Nara, with its suburban districts, is one of the few localities possessing exceptional interest for foreign visitors. I would not for a moment dare to place the art products of Japan on the same level with those of the Greeks, but it is most flattering to us that when our sculpture of this period is spoken of by experts some references are generally made to those of the Greek, and some kind of comparison is drawn. Dr. Anderson, speaking of this period in his ‘Pictorial Art of Japan,’ sums it up as follows, which will give my readers a fair idea of the period:

‘Whatever be the credibility of the majority of the early records, it is certain that the level reached by the Japanese in the sculpture of metals upwards of a thousand years ago was remarkably high, and many of the products of this period of art culture demonstrate a breadth of conception and a courage of effort that could only emanate from an intellectual and energetic race; but, unfortunately, the subsequent errors have contributed little to increase the fame won by the authorship of the great bronzes that adorned the ancient capital of Nara.’

Captain Brinkley says in his great work on Japan, after alluding to the originality of the Japanese of this period (though, at the same time, his according to its pictures only a secondary place is perhaps open to criticism):

‘Men that could conceive and construct the colossal bronze figure of Vairochana Buddha at Nara, and numerous images preserved in the temple there, cannot have experienced much necessity to employ Chinese or Corean hands. Nevertheless, though glyptic art, the lacquerer’s art, and the inlayer’s art unquestionably attained to a high stage of development in this epoch, pictorial art remained in a secondary place … the features which constitute the chief charm as well as the speciality of Japanese genius in later ages had not yet been evolved … but as sculptors they unquestionably stand at the head of Far Eastern artists, and although the degree of supremacy varied from age to age, the fact could never be questioned.’