Buddhism's Transformation of Japan

Buddhism arrived in Japan from the Korean kingdom of Baekje, traditionally dated to either 538 or 552 CE, when a Baekje ruler is said to have sent Buddhist images and sutras to the Japanese court. Its early acceptance was neither immediate nor uncontested, provoking a succession dispute between aristocratic clans favoring and opposing the new religion, but it gained decisive state patronage under Prince Shotoku (574-622), regent to Empress Suiko, who promoted Buddhism alongside Confucian administrative principles and sponsored the construction of temples, including Horyuji, near Nara, whose surviving structures are counted among the oldest wooden buildings in the world. From this court-sponsored beginning, Buddhism spread gradually through the Japanese islands, developing distinct schools and eventually permeating both elite and popular religious life.