Asuka, Nara and Heian Periods


 
  1. The Kitano Tenjin-egi Handscroll The Metropolitan Museum has created a wonderful exhibit about the scroll which details the life of Sugawara Michizane whose vengeful ghost comes back to haunt those who unfairly slandered him. There are over 35 illustrations with explanations of each scene and general information on the handscroll format.

  2. The Asuka Historical Museum site gives you a glimpse of the capital of Japan from 552 - 645 AD. "It was at this time that our country adopted much of the relatively matured culture and administrative methodology of China and the Korean peninsula, and it was here that a unified national state was for the first time established in Japan. It was here that Buddhism was introduced and Buddhist art saw its first flower." It is mostly text, but there are good illustrations of Kofun tombs in the Virtual Museum section "Asuka Kofun."

 

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