Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/591

CHAP. IV. INTRODUCTORY. 487 upon as the original type of, at all events, the Korean pagoda. The scarcity of wood in China would be sufficient to account for the employment of either brick or stone for the construction of their pagodas, and this is borne out by the two Chinese drawings in the National Library of Paris referred to on page 467, where the lower storeys are shown to be of solid construction in either brick or stone. The Japanese pagodas, on the other hand, even down to the present day, are all built in timber as being better able to resist the shock of earthquakes, and may be looked upon, therefore, as the survivals of those which formerly existed in Korea, in which country they are now however in stone or brick. The principal source of information on Japanese architecture is that which is derived from photographs, but much is to be learnt from the meischos or guidebooks to the various provinces, which in Japan are largely illustrated, and from the prints by Hiro-shige, Yei-sen, and Toyo-kuni. The most valuable works on the subject are those by Herr F. von Baltzer, 1 in which plans section and elevations are given of temples, pagodas, and other structures. The papers contributed by Prof. Josiah Conder 2 to the transactions and journal of the Institute of British Architects contain the most complete account of some of the temples and palaces, and are well illustrated. Of other works consulted are those by Prof. B. H. Chamberlain, and Mr. W. B. Mason, 3 Mr. E. S. Morse/ M. Titsingh, 5 Mr. Ralph A. Cram, 6 and Dr. Dresser. 7 It was not till the second half of the 6th century that Japan emerged from a state of barbarism, and its earliest architectural structures date from the commencement of the 7th century, when the introduction of Buddhism from China through Korea and its revelations stirred the Japanese people to a loftier con- ception than those which the older Shintd religion had inspired. The temple and pagoda at Hdriuji near Nara (A.D. 607), the earliest buildings existing, are said to have been erected by carpenters from Korea, and in their design and execution present a completeness of style which must have taken several 1 ' Das Japanische Haus eine Bau- technische Studie ' (1903). ' Die Archi- tektur des Kultbauten Japans ' (1907). 2 ' Notes on Japanese Architecture,' in 'Transactions R.I.B.A., 1877-78,' vol. xxviii. pp. 179-92. ' Further Notes and a Description of the Mausoleum at Nikk6 ' in the 'Transactions New Series, 1885- 86,' vol. ii. pp. 185-214, and a third paper on the ' Domestic Architecture of Japan,' 1886-87, ' in vol. iii. pp. 103-27 and 181-84. 3 Murray's Handbook to Japan, 8th edition, 1907, 4 'Japanese Homes and their Sur- roundings,' 1895. 5 ' Illustrations of Japan ; Memoirs of the Djogoun-s,' 1822. 8 ' Impressions of Japanese Architec- ture and the Allied Arts,' 1905. 7 'Japan, its Architecture, Art, and Art Manufactures,' 1882.