85-564: Gaki may refer to: The Japanese word for Preta A pen-name of Akutagawa Ryunosuke Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Gaki . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gaki&oldid=928333045 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
170-492: A brush rather than a pen , and their familiarity with brush techniques has made them particularly sensitive to the values and aesthetics of painting. With the rise of popular culture in the Edo period , ukiyo-e , a style of woodblock prints, became a major form and its techniques were fine-tuned to create mass-produced, colorful pictures; in spite of painting's traditional pride of place, these prints proved to be instrumental in
255-483: A deva (god) but in the last form of physical birth. The elements except akaśa as defined is the common constituent throughout the universe and the remaining four are common to the properties of the planets, stars and afterlife places such as the underworld . This is the reason that Pretas cannot eat or drink as the rest of the three elements are missing and no digestion or physical intake is possible for them. Pretas are crucial elements of Hindu culture, and there are
340-486: A syllabary system for transcribing sounds and ideas (see kana ), and most were incapable of reading texts that employed Chinese ideographs ( kanji ). Thus, the Kegon Engi Emaki combines passages of text, written with a maximum of easily readable syllables, and illustrations that have the dialogue between characters written next to the speakers, a technique comparable to contemporary comic strips. The plot of
425-587: A Korean peninsula, Buddhist icons were brought to Japan by Various immigrant groups. Particularly, the semi-seated Maitreya form was adapted into a highly developed Ancient Greek art style which was transmitted to Japan as evidenced by the Kōryū-ji Miroku Bosatsu and the Chūgū-ji Siddhartha statues. Many historians portray Korea as a mere transmitter of Buddhism. The Three Kingdoms, and particularly Baekje, were instrumental as active agents in
510-422: A body on Earth (others being prithvī [earth], jala [water] and agni [fire]). There are other forms as per the karma or "actions" of previous lives where a soul takes birth in humanoid bodies with the absence of one to three elements. Jiva or soul/spirit is bound to take rebirth after death in a body composed of five or more elements. A soul in transient mode is pure and its existence is comparable to that of
595-460: A dead person", from pra-ita , literally "gone forth, departed". In Classical Sanskrit, the term refers to the spirit of any dead person, but especially before the obsequial rites are performed, but also more narrowly to a ghost or evil being. The Sanskrit term was taken up in Buddhism to describe one of six possible states of rebirth. The Chinese term egui ( 餓鬼 ), literally "starving ghost",
680-409: A form of Vajrayana Buddhism, which he introduced into Japan in 806. At the core of Shingon worship is mandalas , diagrams of the spiritual universe, which then began to influence temple design. Japanese Buddhist architecture also adopted the stupa , originally an Indian architectural form , in its Chinese-style pagoda. The temples erected for this new sect were built in the mountains, far away from
765-441: A little, but find it very difficult to find food or drink. Others can find food and drink, but find it very difficult to swallow. Others find that the food they eat seems to burst into flames as they swallow it. Others see something edible or drinkable and desire it but it withers or dries up before their eyes. As a result, they are always hungry. In addition to hunger, pretas suffer from immoderate heat and cold; they find that even
850-417: A main rectangular structure flanked by two L-shaped wing corridors and a tail corridor, set at the edge of a large artificial pond. Inside, a single golden image of Amida ( c. 1053 ) is installed on a high platform. The Amida sculpture was executed by Jōchō , who used a new canon of proportions and a new technique ( yosegi ), in which multiple pieces of wood are carved out like shells and joined from
935-419: A major industry at various points. Japanese lacquerware is also one of the world's leading arts and crafts, and works gorgeously decorated with maki-e were exported to Europe and China, remaining important exports until the 19th century. In architecture , Japanese preferences for natural materials and an interaction of interior and exterior space are clearly expressed. The first settlers of Japan were
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#17328011513351020-461: A minimum of detail. Catching a Catfish with a Gourd (early 15th century, Taizō-in , Myōshin-ji , Kyoto), by the priest-painter Josetsu (active c. 1400 ), marks a turning point in Muromachi painting. Executed originally for a low-standing screen, it has been remounted as a hanging scroll with inscriptions by contemporary figures above, one of which refers to the painting as being in
1105-564: A modification of Yayoi culture, attributable either to internal development or external force. This period is most notable for its tomb culture and other artifacts such as bronze mirrors and clay sculptures called haniwa which were erected outside these tombs. Throughout the Kofun period, the characteristics of these tombs evolved from smaller tombs erected on hilltops and ridges to much larger tombs built on flat land. The largest tomb in Japan,
1190-676: A new, more realistic style of sculpture. The two Niō guardian images (1203) in the Great South Gate of the Tōdai-ji in Nara illustrate .Unkei's dynamic supra-realistic style. The images, about 8 m (about 26 ft) tall, were carved of multiple blocks in a period of about three months, a feat indicative of a developed studio system of artisans working under the direction of a master sculptor. Unkei's polychromed wood sculptures (1208, Kōfuku-ji , Nara) of two Indian sages, Muchaku and Seshin ,
1275-430: A person dies and is reborn. In Japan, preta is translated as gaki ( Japanese : 餓鬼 , "hungry ghost"), a borrowing from Middle Chinese nga kjwɨj ( Chinese : 餓鬼 , "hungry ghost"). Since 657, some Japanese Buddhists have observed a special day in mid-August to remember the gaki . Through such offerings and remembrances ( segaki ), it is believed that the hungry ghosts may be released from their torment. In
1360-569: A preta for the rest of eternity . Pretas are believed to have been false, corrupted, compulsive, deceitful, jealous or greedy people in a previous life. As a result of their karma , they are afflicted with an insatiable hunger for a particular substance or object . Traditionally, this is something repugnant or humiliating, such as cadavers or feces , though in more recent stories, it can be anything, however bizarre. In addition to having insatiable hunger for an aversive item, pretas are said to have disturbing visions. Pretas and human beings occupy
1445-409: A scroll that deals with an intrigue at court, emphasizes figures in active motion depicted in rapidly executed brush strokes and thin but vibrant colors. E-maki also serve as some of the earliest and greatest examples of the otoko-e ("men's pictures") and onna-e ("women's pictures") styles of painting. There are many fine differences in the two styles, appealing to the aesthetic preferences of
1530-438: A second time into Japan and took root. Painting: Because of secular ventures and trading missions to China organized by Zen temples, many Chinese paintings and objects of art were imported into Japan and profoundly influenced Japanese artists working for Zen temples and the shogunate. Not only did these imports change the subject matter of painting, but they also modified the use of color; the bright colors of Yamato-e yielded to
1615-401: A series of restrictions to assist the preta and ease its suffering. In Indian cultures, food and digestion is symbolic as it separates the food essential for digestion from the waste products, and thus the same logic is applied to sins of the deceased in their living relatives eating and digesting the symbolic rice balls. In engaging in these rituals, the chief mourner of the deceased individual
1700-444: A special female preta is known as a grák, a malevolent spirit believed to be the spirit of a corrupt old woman named Yey Plang (យាយប្លង់) who was in charge of preparing food for the royal family and for monks in temples near the royal palace during the reign of King Monivong between 1927 and 1941. Pretas dwell in the waste and desert places of the earth, and vary in situation according to their past karma . Some of them can eat
1785-413: A variety of very specific funerary rituals that the mourning family must engage in to guide the deceased spirit into its next cycle of karmic rebirth. Rice balls, which are said to symbolize the body of the deceased, are offered from the mourning family to the preta whose spirit is often symbolized by a clay mound somewhere in the house. These rice balls are offered in three sets of 16 over one year, which
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#17328011513351870-779: A very limited ability to satisfy those appetites, symbolized by their slender necks. Pretas are often depicted in Japanese art (particularly that from the Heian period ) of Gaki-Zoshi as emaciated human-like creatures with bulging stomachs with dependable size and rather thin throats. They are frequently shown licking up spilled water in temples, accompanied by demons (specifically oni ), desperately begging to humans, and scavenging things, or winding up in severe pain representing their personal agony. Otherwise they may be shown as balls of smoke or fire . Often, pretas are usually depicted naked and while others wears fundoshi . In Cambodia,
1955-582: Is a famous example of this style. In 1180, a war broke out between the two most powerful warrior clans: the Taira and the Minamoto ; five years later the Minamoto emerged victorious and established a de facto seat of government at the seaside village of Kamakura , where it remained until 1333. With the shift of power from the nobility to the warrior class, the arts had to satisfy a new audience: men devoted to
2040-407: Is believed that pretas become even hungrier. At the last and final stage, the preta is said to have a new body, four rice balls are offered and five spiritual leaders of Brahmans are fed so that they can symbolize digesting the sins of the deceased during their life. While there are specific steps that guide the preta into its new life, during the mourning process, the deceased's family must undergo
2125-733: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Preta#Buddhism Preta ( Sanskrit : प्रेत , Standard Tibetan : ཡི་དྭགས་ yi dags ), also known as hungry ghost , is the Sanskrit name for a type of supernatural being described in Hinduism , Buddhism , Taoism , and Chinese folk religion as undergoing suffering greater than that of humans, particularly an extreme level of hunger and thirst. They have their origins in Indian religions and have been adopted into East Asian religions via
2210-492: Is one of Sesshu's most accomplished works, depicting a continuing landscape through the four seasons. In the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1573–1603), a succession of military leaders, such as Oda Nobunaga , Toyotomi Hideyoshi , and Tokugawa Ieyasu , attempted to bring peace and political stability to Japan after an era of almost 100 years of warfare. Oda, a minor chieftain, acquired power sufficient to take de facto control of
2295-406: Is the amount of time it takes for a preta to complete its transformation into its next phase of life. The rice balls are offered to the preta because in this transient state between cremation and rebirth, the preta is said to undergo intense physical suffering. The three stages are the impure sixteen, the middle sixteen and the highest sixteen that occur over the course of the mourning period. After
2380-493: Is the symbolic representation of the spirit or preta. During the period of mourning, the chief mourner can only eat one meal a day for the first eleven days following the death, and also not sleep on a bed, engage in sexual activity or any personal grooming or hygiene practices. In general in Buddhist tradition, a preta is considered one of the six forms of existence (Gods, demigods, humans, animals, ghosts and hell beings) once
2465-488: Is thus not a literal translation of the Sanskrit term. Pretas are invisible to the human eye, but some believe they can be discerned by humans in certain mental states. They are described as human-like, but with sunken, mummified skin, narrow limbs, enormously distended bellies and long, thin necks. This appearance is a metaphor for their mental situation: they have enormous appetites, signified by their gigantic bellies, but
2550-769: The Fujiwara period , Pure Land Buddhism , which offered easy salvation through belief in Amida (the Buddha of the Western Paradise), became popular. This period is named after the Fujiwara family , then the most powerful in the country, who ruled as regents for the Emperor, becoming, in effect, civil dictators. Concurrently, the Kyoto nobility developed a society devoted to elegant aesthetic pursuits. So secure and beautiful
2635-665: The Fukukenjaku Kannon (不空羂索観音立像, the most popular bodhisattva), crafted of dry lacquer (cloth dipped in lacquer and shaped over a wooden armature); the Kaidanin (戒壇院, Ordination Hall) with its magnificent clay statues of the Four Guardian Kings ; and the storehouse, called the Shōsōin . This last structure is of great importance as an art-historical cache, because in it are stored the utensils that were used in
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2720-559: The Jōmon people ( c. 10,500 – c. 300 BCE ), named for the cord markings that decorated the surfaces of their clay vessels, were nomadic hunter-gatherers who later practiced organized farming and built cities with populations of hundreds if not thousands. They built simple houses of wood and thatch set into shallow earthen pits to provide warmth from the soil. They crafted lavishly decorated pottery storage vessels , clay figurines called dogū , and crystal jewels. During
2805-520: The Tokugawa shogunate , organized religion played a much less important role in people's lives, and the arts that survived were primarily secular. The Meiji Period (1868–1912) saw an abrupt influx of Western styles, which have continued to be important. Painting is the preferred artistic expression in Japan, practiced by amateurs and professionals alike. Until modern times, the Japanese wrote with
2890-597: The e-maki , the lives of the two Korean priests who founded the Kegon sect, is swiftly paced and filled with fantastic feats such as a journey to the palace of the Ocean King, and a poignant mom story. A work in a more conservative vein is the illustrated version of Murasaki Shikibu's diary . E-maki versions of her novel continued to be produced, but the nobility, attuned to the new interest in realism yet nostalgic for past days of wealth and power, revived and illustrated
2975-521: The monochromes of painting in the Chinese manner, where paintings generally only have black and white or different tones of a single color. Typical of early Muromachi painting is the depiction by the priest-painter Kao (active early 15th century) of the legendary monk Kensu (Hsien-tzu in Chinese) at the moment he achieved enlightenment. This type of painting was executed with quick brush strokes and
3060-412: The "new style". In the foreground a man is depicted on the bank of a stream holding a small gourd and looking at a large slithery catfish. Mist fills the middle ground, and the background mountains appear to be far in the distance. It is generally assumed that the "new style" of the painting, executed about 1413, refers to a more Chinese sense of deep space within the picture plane. The foremost artists of
3145-436: The 10th millennium BCE, to the present day. Japan has alternated between periods of exposure to new ideas, and long periods of minimal contact with the outside world. Over time the country absorbed, imitated, and finally assimilated elements of foreign culture that complemented already-existing aesthetic preferences. The earliest complex art in Japan was produced in the 7th and 8th centuries in connection with Buddhism . In
3230-463: The 7th and 8th centuries, however, the major focus in contacts between Japan and the Asian continent was the development of Buddhism. Not all scholars agree on the significant dates and the appropriate names to apply to various time periods between 552, the official date of the introduction of Buddhism into Japan, and 784, when the Japanese capital was transferred from Nara. The most common designations are
3315-458: The 9th century, as the Japanese began to turn away from China and develop indigenous forms of expression, the secular arts became increasingly important; until the late 15th century, both religious and secular arts flourished. After the Ōnin War (1467–1477), Japan entered a period of political, social, and economic turmoil that lasted for over a century. In the state that emerged under the leadership of
3400-475: The Americas Art of Oceania Japanese art consists of a wide range of art styles and media that includes ancient pottery , sculpture , ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints , ceramics , origami , bonsai , and more recently manga and anime . It has a long history, ranging from the beginnings of human habitation in Japan, sometime in
3485-484: The Court and the laity in the capital. The irregular topography of these sites forced Japanese architects to rethink the problems of temple construction, and in so doing to choose more indigenous elements of design. Cypress-bark roofs replaced those of ceramic tile, wood planks were used instead of earthen floors, and a separate worship area for the laity was added in front of the main sanctuary. The temple that best reflects
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3570-735: The Early Jōmon Period in many ways. These people were less nomadic and began to settle in villages. They created useful tools that to process the food they gathered and hunted, which made life easier. Through the numerous aesthetically pleasing ceramics found during this period, it is evident that they had a stable economy and more leisure time. In addition, the people of the Middle Jōmon period differed from their ancestors in their development of vessels for specific functions, for example, pots for storage. The decorations on these vessels were more realistic than those on early Jōmon ceramics. During
3655-503: The Early Jōmon period (5000–2500 BCE), villages started to be discovered and ordinary everyday objects were found such as ceramic pots for boiling water. The pots found during this time had flat bottoms and elaborate designs made out of materials such as bamboo. It is believed that some early Jōmon figurines may have been used as fertility objects based on their breasts and broad hips. The Middle Jōmon period (2500–1500 BCE), differed from
3740-674: The Late and Final Jōmon period (1500–300 BCE), the weather grew colder, prompting settlers to move away from the mountains. The main food source was fish, which led them to develop fishing tools and techniques. In addition, the increase in the number of vessels suggests that each household had its own stock. Some vessels found during the Late and Final Jōmon Period were damaged which might indicate that they were used for rituals. In addition, figurines were found with distinctive fleshy bodies and goggle-like eyes. Dogū figurines Dogū ("earthen figure") are small humanoid and animal figurines dated to
3825-478: The Muromachi period are the priest-painters Shūbun and Sesshū . Shūbun, a monk at the Kyoto temple of Shōkoku-ji , created in the painting Reading in a Bamboo Grove (1446) a realistic landscape with deep recession into space. Sesshū, unlike most artists of the period, was able to journey to China and study Chinese painting at its source. Landscape of the Four Seasons ( Sansui Chokan ; c. 1486 )
3910-673: The Suiko period, 552–645; the Hakuhō period , 645–710, and the Tenpyō period, 710–784. The earliest Japanese sculptures of the Buddha are dated to the 6th and 7th century. They ultimately derive from the 1st- to 3rd-century AD Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara , characterized by flowing dress patterns and realistic rendering, on which Chinese artistic traits were superimposed. After the Chinese Northern Wei buddhist art had infiltrated
3995-567: The Tōdaiji represented the center for Imperially sponsored Buddhism and its dissemination throughout Japan. Only a few fragments of the original statue survive, and the present hall and central Buddha are reconstructions from the Edo period . Clustered around the Daibutsuden on a gently sloping hillside are a number of secondary halls: the Hokke-dō (Lotus Sutra Hall), with its principal image,
4080-508: The Western world's 19th-century dialogue with Japanese art . The Japanese, in this period, found sculpture a much less sympathetic medium for artistic expression: most large Japanese sculpture is associated with religion , and the medium's use declined with the lessening importance of traditional Buddhism. Japanese pottery is among the finest in the world and includes the earliest known Japanese artifacts; Japanese export porcelain has been
4165-407: The afterlife. In Sri Lankan culture , like in other Asian cultures, people are reborn as preta ( peréthaya ) if they desired too much in life: their large stomachs can never be filled because they have small mouths. Japanese art Art of Central Asia Art of East Asia Art of South Asia Art of Southeast Asia Art of Europe Art of Africa Art of
4250-427: The concept developed into a transient state between death and obtaining karmic reincarnation in accordance with the person's fate. In order to pass into the cycle of karmic reincarnation, the deceased's family must engage in a variety of rituals and offerings to guide the suffering spirit into its next life. If the family does not engage in these funerary rites, which last for one year, the soul could remain suffering as
4335-455: The corner posts and their branches extending to left and right, unifying the adjoining panels. Eitoku's screen, Chinese Lions , also in Kyoto, reveals the bold, brightly colored style of painting preferred by the samurai. Hasegawa Tōhaku , a contemporary of Eitoku, developed a somewhat different and more decorative style for large-scale screen paintings. In his Maple Screen (楓図), now in the temple of Chishaku-in ( ja:智積院 ), Kyoto, he placed
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#17328011513354420-502: The creation of monumental landscapes on the sliding doors enclosing a room. The decoration of the main room facing the garden of the Jukō-in , a subtemple of Daitoku-ji (a Zen temple in Kyoto), is perhaps the best extant example of Eitoku's work. A massive ume tree and twin pines are depicted on pairs of sliding screens in diagonally opposite corners, their trunks repeating the verticals of
4505-585: The diary in order to recapture the splendor of the author's times. One of the most beautiful passages illustrates the episode in which Murasaki Shikibu is playfully held prisoner in her room by two young courtiers, while, just outside, moonlight gleams on the mossy banks of a rivulet in the imperial garden. During the Muromachi period (1338–1573), also called the Ashikaga period, a profound change took place in Japanese culture. The Ashikaga clan took control of
4590-457: The end of the Jōmon period . They were produced all over Japan, except Okinawa . According to some scholars, the dogū were effigies of people and might have been used in sympathetic magic . Dogū are small clay figures, typically 10 to 30 centimetres (4 to 12 inches) high. Most are female, with large eyes, small waists and wide hips. Many have large bellies, suggesting that they were mother goddesses . The next wave of immigrants
4675-429: The form of money, clothes, gadgets, transportation, estates, accommodation, luxuries, etc.) thus linking the concept of the preta with the deceased's materialism in their lifetime. Though many pretas or hungry ghosts cling to their material possessions during their human lifetime, some other ghosts represented in the festivals long for their loved ones during their human life. During the festivals, people give offerings to
4760-669: The founding of the Kegon sect, is an excellent example of the popularizing trend in Kamakura painting. The Kegon sect, one of the most important in the Nara period, fell on hard times during the ascendancy of the Pure Land sects. After the Genpei War (1180–1185), Priest Myōe of Kōzan-ji sought to revive the sect and also to provide a refuge for women widowed by the war. The wives of samurai had been discouraged from learning more than
4845-604: The genders. But perhaps most easily noticeable are the differences in subject matter. Onna-e , epitomized by the Tale of Genji handscroll, typically deals with court life, particularly the court ladies, and with romantic themes. Otoko-e often recorded historical events, particularly battles. The Siege of the Sanjō Palace (1160), depicted in the "Night Attack on the Sanjō Palace" section of the Heiji Monogatari handscroll
4930-538: The government in 1568 and, five years later, to oust the last Ashikaga shōgun. Hideyoshi took command after Oda's death, but his plans to establish hereditary rule were foiled by Ieyasu, who established the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603. Painting: The most important school of painting in the Momoyama period was that of the Kanō school , and the greatest innovation of the period was the formula, developed by Kanō Eitoku , for
5015-555: The importance of hungry ghosts or pretas and such festivals exist in Tibetan Buddhist tradition as well as Chinese Taoist tradition. Countries such as China, Cambodia, Tibet, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and Malaysia engage in hungry ghost festivals, and in China this is usually on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month according to their calendar. Many rituals involve burning symbolized material possessions, such as joss paper (in
5100-487: The initial impetus for contacts between China and Japan. The Japanese recognized the facets of Chinese culture that could profitably be incorporated into their own: a system for converting ideas and sounds into writing; historiography ; complex theories of government, such as an effective bureaucracy ; and, most important for the arts, new technologies, new building techniques, more advanced methods of casting in bronze , and new techniques and media for painting. Throughout
5185-702: The inside. Applied to the walls of the hall are small relief carvings of celestials, the host believed to have accompanied Amida when he descended from the Western Paradise to gather the souls of believers at the moment of death and transport them in lotus blossoms to Paradise. Raigō paintings on the wooden doors of the Hō-ō-dō, depicting the Descent of the Amida Buddha, are an early example of Yamato-e , Japanese-style painting, and contain representations of
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#17328011513355270-615: The introduction and formation of a Buddhist tradition in Japan in 538 or 552. They illustrate the terminal point of the Silk Road transmission of art during the first few centuries of our era. Other examples can be found in the development of the iconography of the Japanese Fūjin Wind God, the Niō guardians, and the near- Classical floral patterns in temple decorations. The earliest Buddhist structures still extant in Japan, and
5355-419: The large space in their stomachs and thus remain constantly hungry. The last of the three subtypes are pretas that suffer from specific obscurations like creatures who live on and eat their bodies. The other broad category of pretas that travel through time and space are always scared and have a tendency to inflict pain on others. The sufferings of the pretas often resemble those of the dwellers in hell , and
5440-566: The legendary founders of the Hossō sect , are among the most accomplished realistic works of the period; as rendered by Unkei, they are remarkably individualized and believable images. One of the most famous works of this period is an Amitabha Triad (completed in 1195), in Jōdo-ji in Ono , created by Kaikei , Unkei's successor. Calligraphy and painting: The Kegon Engi Emaki , the illustrated history of
5525-507: The modern Japanese language , the word gaki is often used to mean spoiled child, or brat. In Thailand, pret ( Thai : เปรต ) are hungry ghosts of the Buddhist tradition that have become part of the Thai folklore . They are described as being abnormally tall with tiny mouths, able to emit a high-pitched sound that only by monks or shamans can hear. Elders often tell children not to swear or be rude to their parents, lest they become pret in
5610-589: The moon scorches them in the summer, while the sun freezes them in the winter. The types of suffering are specified into two main types of pretas, those that live collectively, and those that travel through space. Of the former, there are three subtypes, the first being pretas who suffer from external obscurations. These pretas suffer constant hunger, thirst or temperature insensitivity. The second type of pretas are those who suffer from internal obscurations, who have small mouths and large stomachs. Often, their mouths are so small that they cannot eat enough food to fill
5695-530: The oldest wooden buildings in the Far East are found at the Hōryū-ji to the southwest of Nara. First built in the early 7th century as the private temple of Crown Prince Shōtoku , it consists of 41 independent buildings. The most important ones, the main worship hall, or Kondō (Golden Hall), and Gojū-no-tō (Five-story Pagoda ), stand in the center of an open area surrounded by a roofed cloister. The Kondō , in
5780-415: The physical body of the deceased is cremated, the first six rice balls are offered to ghosts in general, while the next ten are offered specifically to the preta or the spirit of the person who just died. These ten rice balls are said to help the preta form its new body which is now the length of a forearm. During the second stage, sixteen rice balls are offered to the preta, as through each stage of grief it
5865-601: The recently deceased Prince Shōtoku. At the four corners of the platform are the Guardian Kings of the Four Directions , carved in wood around 650. Also housed at Hōryū-ji is the Tamamushi Shrine, a wooden replica of a Kondō , which is set on a high wooden base that is decorated with figural paintings executed in a medium of mineral pigments mixed with lacquer. Temple building in the 8th century
5950-499: The same physical space and while humans looking at a river would see clear water, pretas see the same river flowing with an aversive substance; common examples of such visions include pus and filth. Through the belief and influence of Hinduism and Buddhism in much of Asia, preta figure appear prominently in the cultures of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. The Sanskrit term प्रेत preta means "departed, deceased,
6035-533: The scenery around Kyoto. E-maki : In the last century of the Heian period, the horizontal, illustrated narrative handscroll, known as e-maki (絵巻, lit. "picture scroll"), came to the fore. Dating from about 1130, the Genji Monogatari Emaki , a famous illustrated Tale of Genji represents the earliest surviving yamato-e handscroll, and one of the high points of Japanese painting. Written about
6120-448: The shogunate and moved its headquarters back to Kyoto, to the Muromachi district of the city. With the return of government to the capital, the popularizing trends of the Kamakura period came to an end, and cultural expression took on a more aristocratic, elitist character. Zen Buddhism, the Ch'an sect traditionally thought to have been founded in China in the 6th century, was introduced for
6205-553: The skills of warfare, priests committed to making Buddhism available to illiterate commoners, and conservatives, the nobility and some members of the priesthood who regretted the declining power of the court. Thus, realism, a popularizing trend, and a classical revival characterize the art of the Kamakura period . In the Kamakura period, Kyoto and Nara remained the centres of artistic production and high culture. Sculpture: The Kei school of sculptors, particularly Unkei , created
6290-548: The spirit of early Heian Shingon temples is the Murō-ji (early 9th century), set deep in a stand of cypress trees on a mountain southeast of Nara. The wooden image (also early 9th century) of Shakyamuni , the "historic" Buddha, enshrined in a secondary building at the Murō-ji , is typical of the early Heian sculpture, with its ponderous body, covered by thick drapery folds carved in the honpa-shiki (rolling-wave) style, and its austere, withdrawn facial expression. Fujiwara art: In
6375-432: The spirits and hope for blessings from their ancestors in return. Thus, the hungry ghost festivals commemorating the pretas are a natural part of some Asian cultures and are not limited to only Hindu or Buddhist belief systems. In Hinduism pretas are very real beings. They are a form, a body consisting only of vāyu (air) and akaśa ( aether ), two of the five great elements ( classical elements ) which constitutes
6460-458: The spread of Buddhism. Preta is often translated into English as " hungry ghost " from the Chinese and East Asian adaptations. In early sources such as the Petavatthu , they are much more varied. The descriptions below apply mainly in this narrower context. The development of the concept of the preta started with just thinking that it was the soul and ghost of a person once they died, but later
6545-519: The style of Chinese worship halls, is a two-story structure of post-and-beam construction, capped by an irimoya , or hipped-gabled roof of ceramic tiles. Inside the Kondō , on a large rectangular platform, are some of the most important sculptures of the period. The central image is a Shaka Trinity (623), the historical Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas , sculpture cast in bronze by the sculptor Tori Busshi (flourished early 7th century) in homage to
6630-562: The temple's dedication ceremony in 752, the eye-opening ritual for the Rushana image, as well as government documents and many secular objects owned by the Imperial family. Choukin (or chōkin ), the art of metal engraving or sculpting, is thought to have started in the Nara period. In 794 the capital of Japan was officially transferred to Heian-kyō (present-day Kyoto ), where it remained until 1868. The term Heian period refers to
6715-551: The tomb of Emperor Nintoku , houses 46 burial mounds and is shaped like a keyhole, a distinct characteristic found within later Kofun tombs. During the Asuka and Nara periods , so named because the seat of Japanese government was located in the Asuka Valley from 542 to 645 and in the city of Nara until 784, the first significant influx of continental Asian culture took place in Japan. The transmission of Buddhism provided
6800-798: The two types of being are easily confused. The simplest distinction is that beings in hell are confined to their subterranean world, while pretas are free to move about. Pretas are generally seen as little more than nuisances to mortals unless their longing is directed toward something vital, such as blood or flesh. However, in some traditions, pretas try to prevent others from satisfying their own desires by means of magic , illusions, or disguises. They can also turn invisible or change their faces to frighten mortals. Generally, however, pretas are seen as beings to be pitied. Thus, in some Buddhist monasteries, monks leave offerings of foods, beverages, incenses, lights, fruits or flowers to them before meals. In addition, there are many festivals around Asia that commemorate
6885-549: The year 1000 by Murasaki Shikibu , a lady-in-waiting to the Empress Shōshi , the novel deals with the life and loves of Genji and the world of the Heian court after his death. The 12th-century artists of the e-maki version devised a system of pictorial conventions that convey visually the emotional content of each scene. In the second half of the century, a different, livelier style of continuous narrative illustration became popular. The Ban Dainagon Ekotoba (late 12th century),
6970-568: The years between 794 and 1185, when the Kamakura shogunate was established at the end of the Genpei War . The period is further divided into the early Heian and the late Heian, or Fujiwara era , the pivotal date being 894, the year imperial embassies to China were officially discontinued. Early Heian art: In reaction to the growing wealth and power of organized Buddhism in Nara, the priest Kūkai (best known by his posthumous title Kōbō Daishi, 774–835) journeyed to China to study Shingon ,
7055-433: Was focused around the Tōdai-ji in Nara. Constructed as the headquarters for a network of temples in each of the provinces, the Tōdaiji is the most ambitious religious complex erected in the early centuries of Buddhist worship in Japan. Appropriately, the 16.2-m (53-ft) Buddha (completed 752) enshrined in the main Buddha hall, or Daibutsuden , is a Rushana Buddha, the figure that represents the essence of Buddhahood, just as
7140-568: Was the Yayoi people, named for the district in Tokyo where remnants of their settlements first were found. These people, arriving in Japan about 300 BCE, brought their knowledge of wetland rice cultivation, the manufacture of copper weapons and bronze bells ( dōtaku ), and wheel-thrown, kiln-fired ceramics . The third stage in Japanese prehistory, the Kofun period (c. 300 – 710 AD), represents
7225-596: Was their world that they could not conceive of Paradise as being much different. They created a new form of Buddha hall, the Amida hall, which blends the secular with the religious, and houses one or more Buddha images within a structure resembling the mansions of the nobility. The Hō-ō-dō (Phoenix Hall, completed 1053) of the Byōdō-in , a temple in Uji to the southeast of Kyoto, is the exemplar of Fujiwara Amida halls. It consists of
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