Excerpt from Selected Relics of Japanese Art, Vol. 12<br><br>Now we shall try to mention the specialization of the forms. The many don'cen't'ric halos of the fourth image are very much like those seen in the wall - pictures of Ajanta: there are some nipple-like studs projecting from the outermost. Halo. This method of treatment in a measure coincides with the serpents having five or seven heads which appear from behind the Buddhist images, overshadowing them, which are carved on the stone-railing of the Amaravati towers of Southern India. A priest of India offered a Buddhist image having the serpents pedestal decorated with flakes of gold-leaf, to Emperor Hui of the Tsin dynasty, China, in the first year of Yung-ning. From such examples, we understand that the fashion of giving to Buddhist images a back-ground of serpents, showing them seated on a serpents pedestal, like those _of Amaravati, had been already handed over to China, and then it was changed into that form of a halo at the back of the viiiiage; but the pedestal of néany ifnages has no Simhasana or lotus-flower pedestal, and does not resemble th05e of the wall-pictures of Ajanta and the stone imagesv'tfiuhd in the soutiief-fl part of'm-iddle India; but the pedestal. Is like Sumeru-asana, or a square pedestal: this rather resembles those of the images of. Gandhara. In the next place, We see that it does not follow the art of Gandhara, as we know those images had no fashion of the mystic doctriit'e -of Buddhism in the relics. The head of the image displays two varieties, such as the curled hair of Middle India, and the special, waving and crisp hair-of Gandhara, but the latter is very rate'i The way in which the drapery covers both should ers of the image, is also a special characteristic of Gandhara, and the first and the third images shown here follow this fashion: but the fourth displays the mode of Middle India, the robe coming up very nearly to the right shoulder. We do not positively know just what was the special characteristic of the drapery of each form. This, as the religion made progress in China, was naturally influenced by the art which then existed in that country. The configuration of the pedestal of the image of Sakyamuni, especially, reveals the specialty of the carving of The Six Dynasties in the matter of curving lines. The drapery of the attendant Bodhisattvas hang and balance on the two sides: this shows that the skill was not yet highly advanced. This form and the configuration of the supporting pedestal (sometimes this is the under part of the robes) and the halo, like the shape of the jewels of the image of Mai treya and the Sumeru-asana, etc., influenced our old carvings, and all the images before, during, and after Empress Suilro's era followed them. As to the features, they had already lost the mode of India, and all took the fashion of China, yet they have nothing of the gentle and meek look we see in those images that were made during the Tang dynasty: so, consequently, most of those made during the Suiko era have the same weak features. In short.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.