JAPAN
be seen in the ancient temple Horu-ji at Nara, where the walls of the principal hall have distemper paintings, described as follows by the late Dr. Anderson in one of the official catalogues of the British Museum:—
The central figure represents a Buddha seated upon a lotus-throne which is supported by a number of crouching dwarfs. The aspect of the Divinity and the position of the hands (right hand raised, both palms directed forwards) are in accordance with the image of Amitâbha described in a well-known Japanese work, "Nichi-gwatsu Tō-myō-Butsu." On each side of the Buddha stands a Bōdhisattva with hands clasped in prayer. In the foreground are two martial figures of Dêva Kings, and between them two conventional lions. Four other persons appear behind the Trinity, two of them having the aspect of Dêva Kings, and two that of Arharts, but the details have become so indistinct from the effects of time and exposure that identification is very difficult. . . . The half-obliterated remains still manifest the touch of a practised hand, and in colouring and composition bear no small resemblance to the works of the old Italian masters. The painting is probably the oldest specimen of Buddhist or other pictorial art extant in Japan, and has, moreover, a special interest as being one of the very rare examples of the application of a coloured design directly to the surface of the plaster wall (the ordinary mural decoration being usually executed on paper which is afterwards affixed to the wall by paste). It is not, however, a true fresco.
It was through Buddhism, then, that the Japanese learned the use of applied pictorial art for purposes of architectural decoration, and they employed it freely though not in the sense of fresco-painting, for they never understood the art of mural painting upon freshly laid plaster lime with colour capable of resisting the caustic action of the lime. They attained much proficiency in the preparation and application
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