took
the place of an equal number of their countrymen who had resided in
Japan for some years. Thenceforth such incidents were frequent. Yet,
at first, a thorough knowledge of the ideographic script seems to
have spread very slowly in Japan, for in 572, when the Emperor
Bidatsu sought an interpretation of a memorial presented by the Koma
sovereign, only one man among all the scribes (fumi-bito), and he
(Wang Sin-i) of Chinese origin, was found capable of reading the
document.

But from the accession of the Empress Suiko (593), the influence of
Shotoku Taishi made itself felt in every branch of learning, and
thenceforth China and Japan may be said to have stood towards each
other in the relation of teacher and pupil. Literature, the
ideographic script,* calendar compiling, astronomy, geography,
divination, magic, painting, sculpture, architecture, tile-making,
ceramics, the casting of metal, and other crafts were all cultivated
assiduously under Chinese and Korean instruction. In architecture,
all substantial progress must be attributed to Buddhism, for
it was by building temples and pagodas that Japanese ideas of
dwelling-houses were finally raised above the semi-subterranean type,
and to the same influence must be attributed signal and rapid
progress in the art of interior decoration. The style of architecture
adopted in temples was a mixture of the Chinese and the Indian.
Indeed, it is characteristic of this early epoch that traces of the
architectural and glyptic fashions of the land where Buddhism was
born showed themselves much more conspicuously than they did in later
eras; a fact which illustrates Japan's constant tendency to break
away from originals by modifying them in accordance with her own
ideals.

*The oldest ideographic inscription extant in Japan is carved on a
stone in Iyo province dating from A.D. 596. Next in point of
antiquity is an inscription on the back of an image of Yakushi which
stands in the temple Horyu-ji. It is ascribed to the year A.D. 607.

ENGRAVING: THE KONDO, HALL or THE HORYU-JI TEMPLE (Ji means temple)

None of the religious edifices then constructed has survived in its
integrity to the present day. One, however,--the Horyu-ji, at
Nara--since all its restorations have been in strict accord with
their originals, is believed to be a true representative of the most
ancient type. It was founded by Shotoku Taishi and completed in 607.
At the time of its construction, this Horyu-ji