Every culture and thought develop when, while standing on a certain ground of their own, they introduce something new into their ingredients, -thus when there is a kind of interwoven mixture of acceptability and spontaneity. In this sense we may say we have a good reason in rejecting the well known view that the development of culture and thought in ancient Japan entirely depends upon that of the Chinese culture of that time, and that the words like "Chinese influence" or "Chinese model" would simply be enough to explain it out. It is against this common view that I tried, in this article, to investigate several problems in ancient Japanese culture and thought. They are: the development of the idea of Ever-Lasting-World (Tokoyo no kuni) whose strong aspiration towards a eternal world of perennial youth and immortality (Huro Hushi) stands together with equally strong affirmation of the realities of this world, the development of the ancient ornamented tombs and especially their frescos mostly prevalent in northern parts of Kyushu, and the development of various techniques used in sculpture during Hakuho and Tenpyo periods, such as the wax-impression casting, the Kanshitsu-zukuri (a kind of technique used in constructing statues by platering linens on archetypes made of wood or clay with sap of lacquer-tree as paste), and the moulding.
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