@article{01HD41P7PXNHXKJP2NF3V2W8SJ,
  abstract     = {{In the early twentieth century, the Ajanta caves became an essential destination not only for Japanese artists interested in their wall paintings, but also for Buddhist priest-scholars and intellectuals who often joined them. The collaboration of these two groups of travelers-pilgrims resulted in efforts to preserve and spread the knowledge of the murals, which also became a source of inspiration for the production of new art at both secular and sacred places. This article analyzes examples of Japanese artistic-religious co-travelling at Ajanta and links the cultural networks between India and Japan facilitated by Okakura Kakuzō with the significance of the role that studies of ancient India played in developing modern scholarly approaches to Buddhism. Specifically, it illustrates the expedition to Ajanta led by priest-scholar Fujii Senshō and the collaboration between the Indologist priest Izumi Hōkei and the painter Inoue Toshimasa. In addition, it presents two cases of echoes of Ajanta in visual culture: the decorations of Yōkisō villa in Nagoya, and the artistic production of nihonga painter Nousu Kōsetsu in Japan, India, and North America. These connections show the importance of including visual culture in the study of modern Japanese Buddhism and transnational Buddhist modernism. In addition, the article argues that a combination of Indology with the art of the Ajanta murals expanded Japanese Buddhist priest-scholars and intellectuals’ knowledge of India, providing them with a rich cultural repertoire for defining forms of transnational identity and collaboration based on the idea of a shared Buddhist heritage. However, the article also questions an idealistic approach to this transnational aesthetics by revealing how the context of the artistic production did not include only cosmopolitan encounters, but also the experiences of colonialism, migration, and displacement.}},
  author       = {{Stortini, Paride}},
  issn         = {{2435-3019}},
  journal      = {{JOURNAL OF WORLD BUDDHIST CULTURES}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{117--134}},
  title        = {{Reimagining ancient India in modern Japan : interactions between buddhist priests, scholars, and artists at Ajanta}},
  url          = {{https://rcwbc.ryukoku.ac.jp/cms/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Journal-of-World-Buddhist-Cultures-vol.4-2021.3.pdf}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}