"Indianism" and the Construction of Pan-Asian Buddhism in Pre-War Japan

by Richard Jaffe, Duke University

Late-nineteenth and early twentieth century Japanese Buddhism was marked by a wideranging fascination with Buddhist origins in India. This Indian turn in Japanese Buddhist circles manifested not only in elite academic scholarship, but also in Buddhist art and architecture. In this paper I consider the early twentieth century artistic and architectural production of Ito Chuta and Otani Kozui to deploy Indian and Southeast Asian Buddhist art as part of the effort to create a universalized Japanese Buddhism.

Conference paper presented at Buddhism In (and Out of) Place Conference held 17-18 October 2004

Published: Tuesday, August 16, 2005

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