Status Updates From Japan in World History (New...

An old Japanese tale depicts the warrior Kumagai Naozane fighting a solitary horseman on an Inland Sea beach in 1184. Ripping off the horseman's helmet, he discovered a teenager "so handsome that he could find no place to strike" ... the story tells us, only to discover that the lad, named Atsumori, was carrying the flute whose melodies had wafted out from the enemy camp that morning. ... (p. 37)

More than 17,000 people packed the courtyard of Nara's grand new temple, the Todaiji, to dedicate a Buddhist statue in the spring of 752. ... Rising more than sixty feet from its pedestal, the Daibutsu, or Great Buddha, was made of some three million pounds of metal, ... And it looked out, benignly, on an audience that included the reigning empress Koken, along with her father, ... (p. 19)

The activity for which Shotoku was best known was his espousal of Buddhism. ... He is credited not only with personal devotion but with writing seven commentaries that showed an impreesive grasp of Indian Buddhist scriptures. He also advocated state support of the religion and had several temples built, including the Horyuji, north of Asuka, which today holds one of Japan's foremost collections ... (p. 16)