page_title: Korean influence on Japanese culture
section_title: Sculpture
hierarchical_section_title: Korean influence on Japanese culture / Artistic influence / Sculpture
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 弥勒菩薩半跏思惟像　　木造　像高　123.5cmEnglish: Maitraya, Wood, Figure Height 123.5cm, about 6-7th century
context_page_description: Korean influence on Japanese culture refers to the impact of continental Asian influences transmitted through or originating in the Korean Peninsula on Japanese institutions, culture, language and society. Since the Korean Peninsula was the cultural bridge between Japan and China throughout much of East Asian history, these influences have been detected in a variety of aspects of Japanese culture, including technology, philosophy, art, and artistic techniques.
  Notable examples of Korean influence on Japanese culture include the prehistoric migration of Korean peninsular peoples to Japan near the end of Japan's Jōmon period and the introduction of Buddhism to Japan via the Kingdom of Baekje in 538 AD. From the mid-fifth to the late-seventh centuries, Japan benefited from the immigration of people from Baekje and Gaya who brought with them their knowledge of iron metallurgy, stoneware pottery, law, and Chinese writing. The modulation of continental styles of art in Korea has also been discerned in Japanese painting and architecture, ranging from the design of Buddhist temples to smaller objects such as statues, textiles and ceramics.
context_section_description: Along with Buddhism, the art of Buddhist sculpture also spread to Japan from Korea. At first almost all Japanese Buddhist sculptures were imported from Korea, and these imports demonstrate an artistic style which would dominate Japanese sculpture during the Asuka period (538–710). In the years 577 and 588 the Korean state of Baekje dispatched to Japan expert statue sculptors.
  One of the most notable examples of Korean influence on Japanese sculpture is the Buddha statue in the Koryu-ji Temple, sometimes referred to as the "Crown-Coiffed Maitreya". This statue was directly copied from a Korean prototype around the seventh century. Likewise, the Great Buddha sculpture of Todai-ji Temple, as well as both the Baekje Kannon and the Guze Kannon sculptures of Japan's Horyu-ji Temple, are believed to have been sculpted by Koreans. The Guze Kannon was described as "the greatest perfect monument of Corean art" by Ernest Fenollosa.
caption: The "Crown-Coiffed Maitreya"
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