Building, Rebuilding, and Moving Temples

This graduate seminar seeks to address impermanence as a salient feature in the history of Japanese architecture by examining the construction, restoration, and relocation of temples buildings and images in Japan during from the Kamakura through early Edo period (13th-17th c.). We will explore how the inherent tensions between old practices of periodic rebuilding (shikinen sengū) at Ise and other Shintō sanctuaries, on one hand, and the intended durability of Buddhist temples initially built according to continental East Asian standards, on the other, produced malleable architectural and institutional idioms perhaps unique to Japan. Although buildings will provide the primary framework for the course, we will also delve into parallel phenomena in sculpture and paintings created specifically for interior spaces. Reading knowledge of Japanese and/or Chinese would be helpful for some reading assignments but not essential for the course.