Nara's relations with ancient China, Korea revisited on 1,300th anniversary of Heijo-kyo Capital

Jan. 31, 2010

Nara's relations with ancient China, Korea revisited on 1,300th anniversary of Heijo-kyo Capital

Nara, a major tourist spot of western Japan, is out to demonstrate its history as Japan’s first “international” capital with links to the ancient China and Korea by organizing many special events and programs. Nara boasts of being a “serene ancient capital” but people from various walks of life there are having exciting days this year, the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of Nara’s Heijo-kyo Capital.
Nara hosts a number of valuable cultural heritages preserved throughout its 1,300 years of history. Some of them are original to Japan, but some were based on imported thoughts and cultures, notably Buddhism, according to the Rev. Kashu Matsukubo from Yakushiji Temple. “When Buddhist priests from China and Korea visit Nara, many of them tell us, ‘We feel as if we were back in our homeland,’” he says.

Nara was Japan’s capital from 710 to 793, the period when Japan tried hard to establish itself as a “state” with a universal code of laws and a firm cultural foundation. Advanced technologies and precious items came along with Buddhism mainly from China. They were used to design and build temples and other structures in Heijo-kyo Capital.

Colored with bright blue and red,
the capital of Nara is at its best now,
just like glowing cherry blossoms.
(A personal translation)

This is a frequently quoted waka poem composed by Onono Oyu, a court official who was active in the early eighth century. Blue-green lattice windows and vermilion-lacquered columns at shrines and other buildings at various places in Nara, the colors which can be seen even now, characterized the capital’s landscape in the period. Heijo-kyo Capital, which had a population of about 100,000, also had streets laid out orderly in a grid pattern, based on a design for the capital of the then Tang dynasty of China.
Many important items and technologies were brought to Japan from China by missions who risked their lives to travel across the rough East China Sea. One of the projects planned in celebration of the 1,300th anniversary calls for building a full-scale ship at the restored Heijo Palace site. The ship is a replica of an old vessel which was used by a mission sent to China during the Nara period. “It will be really worth seeing because you (visitors) will have a sense of the reality and dynamic appearance of the ship,” Nara Governor Shogo Arai says in an interview on Nara Explorer, an English language quarterly. The structure “represents symbolic evidence that Nara flourished as an international city.”
Imported technologies and thoughts were accepted and studied by monks at temples in Nara because Japan had no public or state facilities to digest them at the time, the Rev. Matsukubo said at a recent lecture meeting organized by the Nara prefectural government. Yakushiji, the temple where the 43-year-old priest serves, was one of the “Big Seven” temples in Heijo-kyo Capital.
Buddhist priests in the Nara period contributed to not only establishing basic systems to govern the country but also integrating Japanese people as a nation under the Buddhist philosophy, which stresses harmony among people and calls to be modest while helping and respecting each other, the Rev. Matsukubo said. It is feared that today’s world is becoming excessively economy-oriented, he said. East Asian countries, especially Japan, China and Korea, share traditional values based on Buddhism. The Rev. Matsukubo hopes that the planned events in Nara will provide an occasion for visiting people to take a fresh look at the Buddhist values held among Asian countries.
Buddhist priests from Japan, China and South Korea have been holding meetings almost every year since the 1990s to reconfirm their roles to play for people’s peace. The first meeting was held in Beijing in 1995, two years after the then Buddhist Association of China President Zhao Puchu visited Japan and proposed holding a trilateral Buddhists' dialogue. “We, the Buddhist priests from Japan, China and Korea, are resolved to work closely together for peace,“ since the three countries have nothing but a narrow strip of water to separate them, the Rev. Matsukubo said.
The programs for the 1,300th anniversary include a pilgrimage-like tour of religious sites in Nara and neighboring areas. The Journey of People’s Wishes over 1,300 Years program will be joined by 52 temples and shrines, which will offer special displays of their historical assets, including secretly preserved statues.
Nara attracted 540,000 foreign tourists in 2008, 31 pct of them from South Korea and 6 pct from China. Nara government people expect the series of events will make the ancient capital more attractive to foreign tourists with illustrations about its historical relations with the rest of Asia. “I would like many people to discover and enjoy Nara and would like them to feel glad to have spent some time here,” Governor Arai said. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government pins hopes on tourism in addition to the environment and health as the three major pillars of Japan's new growth strategy for the years ahead. A success of the special events planned by Nara must be a matter of great concern not only for local government officials but also for the Japanese government.