COLLAGE OF JAPANESE BUILDINGS

Osaka, Japan

This sketch is a collage of a few places in and around Osaka visited while in Japan in 2005. In 750, Emperor Shomu ordered the monk-architect Roben to build a temple at Nara. This design (center) attempted to imitate Chinese temples from the muchadmired Tang dynasty. Notice the scale of the building related to the people in the foreground. Todaiji is most well-known for the Nara Daibutsu it contains, or the "The Great Buddha", (at left) which is an image of the Buddha Birushana. The current Buddha was repaired after suffering significant damage in 1692. Under the leadership of Abbot Shunjobo Chogen, numerous structures at Todaiji were rebuilt in the fashion of the Southern Song dynasty of China. The more modern building on the left is the Umeda Sky Building, an iconic landmark in Osaka, Japan, built in the late 1990’s, designed by Hiroshi Hara.

The sketch on the right is a familiar architectural composition in Japan – the tiered set of cantilevered roofs with that delicate Japanese tilt at the corners. The post and beam element at upper right is a sketch of another common motif seen around Japan. We even saw it at the summit of Mt. Fuji, which my two sons and I climbed in 2019.

Most memorable about Todaiji was a herd of deer that roamed the grounds around the temple. They’ve tamed to the crowds, and can be approached to be petted and fed.