Bharat's influence on Japan

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Bharat's influence on Japan

 

Hinduism and Buddhism went from India to China and Korea to Japan.

Images of Ganesha and Vishnu have been found throughout Japan.

Numerous Buddhist deities were introduced into Japan and many of

these are still very popular.

 

According to D. P. Singhal, "some Hindu gods, who had been

incorporated into the Buddhist pantheon, were amongst them. For

example, Indra, originally, the god of thunder but now also the king

of gods, is popular in Japan as Taishaku (literally the great King

Sakra); Ganesha is worshipped as Sho-ten or Shoden (literally, holy

god) in many Buddhist temples, and is believed to confer happiness

upon his devotees. A sea-serpent worshipped by sailors is called

Ryujin, a Chinese equivalent of the Indian naga. Hariti and Dakini

are also worshipped, the former as Kishimo-jin, and the latter by

her original name. Bishamon is a Japanese equivalent of the Indian

Vaisravana (Kubera), the god of wealth.

 

Even Shinto adopted Indian gods, despite its desperate efforts after

the Meiji Revolution to disengage itself from Buddhism. The Indian

sea god Varuna, is worshipped in Tokyo as Sui-ten (water-god); the

Indian goddess of learning, Saraswati, has become Benten (literally,

goddess of speech), with many shrines dedicated to her along sea

coasts and beside lakes and ponds. Shiva is well known to the

Japanese as Daikoku (literally, god of darkness), which is a Chinese

and Japanese equivalent of the Indian Mahakala, another name of

Shiva. Daikoku is a popular god in Japan. At the Kotohira shrine on

the island of Shikoku, sailors worship a god called Kompera, which

is a corruption of the Sanskrit word for crocodile, Kumbhira. The

divine architect mentioned in the Rig Veda, Vishvakarma, who

designed and constructed the world, was regarded in ancient Japan as

the god of carpenters, Bishukatsuma. The Indian Yama, the god of

death, is the most dreaded god of Japan, under the name of Emma-o,

the king of hell.

 

According to author Donald A. Mackenzie: "The Indian form of myth of

the Churning of the Milky Ocean reached Japan. In a Japanese

illustration of it the mountain rests on a tortoise, and the supreme

god sits on the summit, grasping in one of his hands a water vase.

The Japanese Shinto myth of creation, as related in the Ko-ji-ki and

Nihon-gi, is likewise a churning myth. Twin deities, Izanagi, the

god, and Izanami, the goddess, sand on "the floating bridge of

heaven" and thrust into the ocean beneath the "Jewel Spear of

Heaven". With this pestle they churn the primeval waters until they

curdle and form land."

 

(source: Myths of Pre-Columbian America - By Donald A. Mackenzie

p.190-191).

 

The climbers wearing traditional white dress, who scale the sacred

Mount Ontake as a religious observance, sometimes have inscribed on

their robe Sanskrit Siddham characters of an ancient type. Sometimes

they put on white Japanese scarfs (tenugui) which carry the Sanskrit

character OM, the sacred syllable of the Hindus.

 

According to Terence Dukes, "The Gagaku dances of Japan contain many

movements derived from the Indian Nata and the Chinese Chuan Fa."

 

(source: The Boddhisattva Warriors: The Origin, Inner Philosophy,

History and Symbolism of the Buddhist Martial Art Within India and

China p.206).

 

The cultivation of cotton in Japan is traced to an Indian who had

drifted to the shore of Aichi Prefecture in 799. To commemorate the

event, the Japanese named the village where the shipwrecked Indian

had landed Tenjiku; Tenjiku was the Japanese name for India, and

means Heaven.

 

The popular Japanese game of sunoroku or sugoroku (backgammon played

at the royal of the Nara rulers and still popular in Japan is of

Indian origin. In Japan the game is played as nard. Nard is

generally regarded as an Iranian game, but the ninth century Arab

scholar, Al Yaqubi, considered nard an Indian invention used to

illustrate man's dependence on chance and destiny. According to Wei-

Shu, sugoroku was brought to China in ancient times from Hu country,

which at that time meant a country somewhere in the vicinity of

India. Again, as Karl Himly has pointed out, the Hun Tsun, Sii,

written during the Sung period (960-1279), states that t'shu-pu,

another Chinese name for sugoruku, was invented in western India,

that it was known in its original form as chatushpada, and that it

reached China during the Wei period (220-265).

 

There is some Indian influence on Japanese art. A similarity

between Shinto rituals and Hindu rituals (for example ringing the

bell as one enters the temple). Narushima (Narasimha) Bishamondo is

a famous temple in Japan.

 

(source: India and World Civilization - Dr. D. P. Singhal).

 

The influence of Indian thought and culture on Japan was very great.

Maurice Winternitz, while reviewing Geschichte der Japanischen

Literature, says:

 

"In view of so much Indian influence in Japanese literature, it is

possible to assume that the 'Keuyogen' or double meaning of Japanese

poetry may in any way be connected with that form of Alankara of the

Indian Kavya, which is exactly in the same method."

 

The distinguished Japanese scholar, Mr. J. Taka Kusu, says: " But I

should like to emphasize the fact that the influence of India,

material and intellectual, must have been much greater in an earlier

period than we at present consider to have been the case. There

were, for instance, several Indians, whom the Kuroshiwo current,

washing almost the whole southern coast, brought to the Japanese

shore." He further says, " It cannot be denied that several Indians

came to Japan, especially in view of so many Indians finding their

way to China by sea."

 

He then relates how a Brahmin Bodhisen Bharadvaja, known generally

as the "Brahmin Bishop" came with another priest from India via

Champa (Cochin China) to Osaka, then to Nara, where they met another

Indian ascetic and taught Sanskrit to the Japanese. "His monastery

and tombstone, with a written eulogy, still exist in Nara. Just at

the time a Japanese alphabet or syllables is said to have been

invented. The fifty syllables, Gojuin, are arranged by a hand,

evidently with a practical knowledge of Sanskrit method."

 

(source: Journal of Royal Asiatic Society for 1905, p. 872-873).

 

The official record of Japan, Nihon-ki and Ruijukokushi describe how

cotton was introduced in Japan by two Indians who reached Japan in

July 799 and April 800 A.D.

 

(For more refer to Vide Dr. Taka Kusu's "What Japan owes to India"

in the Journal of the Indo-Japanese Association for January, 1910).

 

It is noteworthy that some of the scriptures of the Japanese priests

preserved in the Horyuji Temple of Japan are written in Bengali

characters of the eleventh century.

 

(source: Daito Shimaji's " India an Japan in Ancient Times," in the

Journal of Indo-Japanese Association for January 1910).

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Common Terms: Sanskrit/Chinese/Japanese

 

Archarya - Master Achali Ajari

Dharma - Law FA Ho

Pratima - movement warrior techniques of the Hindu ksatreyas Hsing

Kata

Sunyatapani - Tang-Shou Karate/To De

Dharmahasta Chuan Fe Kempo

Marga - The Way Tao Do

Guhya-Sutra Mi-Ching Mikkyo

Nagarjuna Lung Shu Ryuju/Ryusho/Ryumyo

Mudra - ritual gesture Yin In

Mandala a special zone or area Mantolo Mandara

Vajramukti Ching Kang, Chieh T'o Kongogedastsu

Sangha - congregation or group followers Seng So

Narya - strong or manly Na-Li Nara, Naha

Nata Na-Pa, Na-Ra Nara, Napa, Nafa

Yoga - to yoke Yui Cha Yu Ga