Studies show that of the early ceramic roof-end tiles decorated with Buddha images, only a limited number of convex tiles have been discovered in China and Japan, while no concave tiles have been found at all. Among the ancient convex roof-end tiles with Buddhist motifs discovered in China so far, those made in Northern Wei (386-534) in the early sixth century and discovered in its two capitals, Pingcheng (present-day Datong) and Luoyang, are discussed extensively with regard to the dharmakaya motif placed at their center and surrounded by lotus petals. Historians have also shown a keen interest in the convex roof-end tiles discovered at the nine-story wooden pagoda called Yongning Temple in Luoyang. Certain of these tiles can be classified into six groups according to the motifs decorating their outer surface, including demonic faces, lotus flowers and the palmette, while those with dharmakaya and lotus motifs are categorized into four groups according to the Buddhist concept of the birth of heavenly beings. I believe that the concept played a key role in the construction of the nine roofs of the pagoda with these ornamental roof-end tiles. The primary materials for the study of early Chinese convex roof-end tiles with Buddha images include the cast tiles with dharmakaya and lotus motifs unearthed at Khotan in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by the Japanese archaeologists of the Otani Expedition in the early twentieth century. These tiles, believed to have been made in the kingdom of Khotan in the early sixth century, were originally used to decorate the Shakyamuni shrine in a Buddhist temple. As for early Japanese convex roof-end tiles decorated with Buddha images, those of Fuki-ji, a Tendai temple in Bungotakada, Oita Prefecture, are the only extant examples. These are closely related with the roof-end tiles decorated with Brahmic scripts, five-ringed pagoda or the “Namo Amitabha Buddha” (南無阿彌陀佛) inscription that were produced between the late Heian Period (794-1185) and the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) in the Kinki and Kyushu regions. The introduction of Tantric Buddhism to Japan by Kukai and Saicho during the early ninth century resulted in a great change in Japanese Buddhism: It led to widespread belief in the ideas of the Latter Day of the Law in the late eleventh century, the spread of Pure Land Buddhism to common people as well as royalty and aristocracy, and the nationwide establishment of Amitabha shrines. Fuki-ji’s tiles are regarded as rare examples which show that they were used to decorate an Amitabha shrine built in the early twelfth century. In the late eleventh century, Emperor Shirakawa established a Buddhist temple, Hossho-ji, in Kyoto based on the ideologies of Mandala, Garbhakosa-dhatu and Vajradhatu in particular, to fulfill his wish for national peace and prosperity and to promote the imperial authority. Japan’s oldest roof-end tiles bearing sacred Brahmic scripts representing Vairocana Buddha of Garbhakosa-dhatu were used to decorate the octagonal nine-story wooden pagoda of the temple. The decorative roof tiles used by the temple in 1122 include those bearing the image of the five-ringed pagoda, which was built to enshrine the Buddha’s sariras. The pagoda was later conferred to ordinary Amitabha worshippers in the Osaka region, who were devoted to building temples and images honoring the Buddha. The roof tiles decorated with the fiveringed pagoda design represent the union of the pagoda symbolizing Vairocana Buddha with the sarira and Amitabha worship. The tradition prospered and was spread widely by Chogen who played a key role in the restoration of Todai-ji in Nara, which was destroyed by fire during a war in 1180. The creation of roof-end tiles related with Vairocana Buddha and the Offering Bodhisattva is a unique heritage of Japanese Buddhism whose prosperity is based on Esoteric Buddhism and the ideology of the Latter Day of the Law.
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Feb 28, 2018
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