Ancient Indian Influence on Japanese Culture: A Comparative Study of Civilizations

Since ancient times, Japan has assimilated various foreign cultures, particularly through Buddhism from India, which led to the formation of Japanese civilization. Then Japanese interests in ancient India have been mostly focused on Buddhism and its related architecture and fine arts. Yet the overall comparative study of the two civilizations has been rarely taken up in both the countries. However the recent closer relationship between the two countries attracts more attention to the history of their interchanges to depend mutual understandings. This book provides a timely contribution to the current matter of concern. It deals with ancient Indian influence on Japan synthetically both in moral and material cultures with Buddhist and non-Buddhist elements, for which the author intensively visited ancient sites and investigated archaeological arte facts both in the subcontinent and Japan. Further it searches for the characteristics of the two civilizations on peculiarity and commonness. Thus it is expected for ancient interchanges among civilizations to throw light on deepening international relations under present globalization in its real sense of universality.