dhist establishment, and the rise of the “new Buddhism
of the Kamakura” (kamakura shin bukkyo) is under-
stood as a reformation, led by famous founders such
as HONEN, SHINRAN, DOGEN, and Nichiren, in re-
sponse to a Heian Buddhism increasingly dominated
by the secular concerns of its aristocratic patrons. The
period following the Kamakura is often seen as another
time of decline, during which the reforming spirit of
the Kamakura founders was lost once again.
Needless to say, this neatly articulated account of
the history of the various schools, however well it may
reflect the self-understanding of the modern denomi-
nations, is hardly the whole, or necessarily the most
instructive, story of Buddhism in Japan. Not surpris-
ingly, it has been challenged by historians who seek a
broader understanding of the character of the religion
and its role in society. For such historians, an account
that focuses on the sectarian traditions of the schools
and the lives and teachings of their founding figures
exaggerates not only the historical significance of a few
great men but the historical status of the schools them-
selves. Even in the early modern and modern periods,
when the institutional and intellectual definitions of
the schools are fairly well established, popular Bud-
dhist belief and practice has often, perhaps typically,
been oblivious of sectarian distinctions, and the mean-
ing of such distinctions during the premodern period
developed only gradually over a millennium of Japan-
ese history.Premodern background
The founding of the Nara schools is but a minor note
in the early history of Japanese Buddhism, which is it-
self but part of a larger story of the formation of a cen-
tral Japanese court and its wholesale importation of
continental culture during the seventh and eighth cen-
turies. While the transmission of Chinese Buddhist
books and ideas was certainly one feature of this
process, far more conspicuous was the creation of a
court-supported clerical establishment, housed at great
monasteries in and around the capital cities. Much of
the subsequent institutional history of Japanese Bud-
dhism revolves around the shifting relations between
the central government and the increasingly powerful
and independent monastic centers.JAPANThe Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion Temple) in Kyoto, Japan, so called because it is covered in gold leaf. © Chris Lisle/Corbis. Reproduced
by permission.