The first decade of the twentieth century marked a turning point for Japanese Buddhism. With the introduction of Western academia, Buddhist scholars began to uncover the history of Buddhism, and through their efforts, they discovered India as the birthplace of Buddhism. As India began to grow in importance for Japanese Buddhist circles, one unexpected area to receive the most influence was Japanese Buddhist art, especially in the representation of human figures. Some artists began to insert Indian female figures into their art, not only to add a sense of exoticism but also to experiment with novel iconographies that might modernize Buddhist art. One example included the combination of Indian and Japanese female traits to create a culturally fluid figure that highlighted the cultural connection between Japan and India. Other artists were more attracted to “Indianizing” the Buddha in paintings to create more historically authentic art, drawing references from both Indian art and observations of local people. In this paper, I highlight how developments in Buddhist studies in Japan led to a re-establishment of Indo–Japanese relationships. Furthermore, I examine how the attraction towards India for Japanese artists motivated them to travel abroad and seek inspiration to modernize Buddhist art in Japan.

中文翻译：

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“菩萨身”：二十世纪初印度对现代日本佛教艺术的影响


二十世纪的前十年是日本佛教的转折点。随着西方学术界的传入，佛教学者开始揭开佛教的历史，并通过他们的努力，发现了印度作为佛教的发源地。随着印度对日本佛教界的重要性开始增长，一个意想不到的受到最大影响的领域是日本佛教艺术，特别是在人物表现方面。一些艺术家开始将印度女性形象融入到他们的艺术中，不仅是为了增添异国情调，也是为了尝试可能使佛教艺术现代化的新颖图像。一个例子包括印度和日本女性特征的结合，创造出一种文化流动的形象，突出了日本和印度之间的文化联系。其他艺术家更喜欢在绘画中“印度化”佛像，以创造更具有历史真实性的艺术，借鉴印度艺术和当地人的观察。在本文中，我重点介绍了日本佛教研究的发展如何导致印日关系的重建。此外，我还研究了印度对日本艺术家的吸引力如何促使他们出国旅行并寻求灵感以实现日本佛教艺术的现代化。