Photo/Illutration Todaiji temple was commissioned by Emperor Shomu to bring peace to a tumultuous period. The nearby Nara Park is home to hundreds of deer roaming freely. (Photo by Lisa Vogt)

I have heard a hundred times that “Japan is an island country with a long history of isolation, and many aspects of the culture developed completely unaffected by outside influences until the Black Ships came and forced open our doors.”

I have to say that this notion, however popular, is not entirely true. From the early 1600s to the mid-1800s, yes, Japan had “officially” isolated itself from the world.

But for the rest of its history spanning from prehistory to the present, Japan has been very globally engaged. On a recent trip to Todaiji temple in Nara Prefecture, I was unequivocally reminded of this.

Todaiji, the Great Eastern temple, is not just one temple, as I had mistakenly assumed. Part of Nara Park, it consists of numerous structures, including the Great Buddha Hall, Hokke-do, Nigatsu-do, Great South Gate and more.

Why is the temple famous? It is one of the world’s largest wooden buildings, and it houses a gargantuan 15-meter-high statue of a sitting Rushanabutsu, a Buddha that illuminates the world. It’s one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites of Ancient Nara.

A rite to consecrate a newly created Buddhist image is called an eye-opening ceremony. In the year 752, thousands of important monks and court, civil and military officials from around the known world were invited to the commemoration ceremony.

It is said to have been a huge, cosmopolitan affair with representatives from Persia (Iran), Silla (Korea), the Tang Dynasty (China), Vietnam, Central and Southeast Asia and other places in attendance.

The Indian monk Bodhisena invited the spirit into the Buddha by painting the pupils on the eyes of the statue. International music and dances were performed, and it was one big bash!

So, Japan shutting its doors to the outside world? From people to architecture to city layouts, kanji character writing systems, and new schools of thought and governance, Japan did not evolve on its own.

As I traced the Heart Sutra at the Shakyo Dojo on the temple grounds, my mind wandered to the past. I imagined all the beings, ideas and creations from within and without Japan that ultimately make up Todaiji and the country. Before realizing it, I became so engaged in copying the sutra that I seemed to have merged with it.

One translation of the sutra gyate-gyate-hara-gyate is “cross the shore and empty oneself.” No country is truly an island, and no person, either. The things you may have assumed might not be true. Isolation? Nah.

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This article by Lisa Vogt, a Washington-born and Tokyo-based photographer, originally appeared in the June 20 issue of Asahi Weekly. It is part of the series "Lisa’s Wanderings Around Japan," which depicts various places across the country through the perspective of the author, a professor at Meiji University.

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