JAPANESE PICTORIAL ART
from almost every country of continental Asia as well as from Egypt and Greece. In short, Japan's pictorial and decorative art had not yet developed any distinctive character. Her painters were still living in the Chinese studio, not, however, as altogether immature pupils, for if any of the surviving examples may be attributed to them,—as to which nothing can be affirmed with absolute certainty,—the fact that they had acquired much technical skill, at all events, is placed beyond question.
Originality they began to show, according to the judgment of their own connoisseurs, from the date (794) of the transfer of the Court to Kyōtō. In history, however, there is nothing to suggest any special reason for a new departure at that time. Intercourse with China, especially through Buddhist channels, had grown even closer than before, and the over-shadowing influence of Chinese civilisation found expression in the plan of the new capital itself, which was a replica of the Tang metropolis. It is true that the removal of the Court to Kyōtō was partly due to the Emperor Kwammu's revolt against the excessive sway established by Buddhism at Nara. But the effect of that policy upon art—if, indeed, it exercised any effect—would not have been to encourage originality so much as to diminish the vogue enjoyed by religious paintings and to divert men's thoughts to secular pictures. Perhaps that is all that happened, for it is certain that the seeds of originality said to have been sown at the close of the eighth century did not immediately bear any palpable fruit. Kawanari, descended from a Korean immigre, was the sower, and of Kawanari's work nothing is known save what tradition tells. His skill is exalted to miraculous
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