JŌMON PERIOD

• Jōmon pottery:
  (a) flame-type vessels
  (b) figurines – the topics can be used together or separately

YAYOI PERIOD

• Yayoi pottery and bronze bells dōtaku

KOFUN PERIOD

• Imperial burials kofun – location, layout, ‘architecture’; the most famous examples
• Haniwa figurines

ASUKA PERIOD

• Hōryūji: early Buddhist architecture in Japan
• Hōryūji: early Buddhist sculpture and painting in Japan. Tori Busshi and his severe style; development of softer styles (Kudara Kannon); painting on the Tamamushi shrine

NARA PERIOD (if covered by the date of our library class)

• Tōdaiji: its history and its role in strengthening of Buddhism as a state religion; the bronze sculpture of the Great Buddha (Daibutsu)
• Nara-period realism: dry lacquer and clay sculpture from Kōfukuji and Hokkedō at Tōdaij

BUDDHISM:

• major concepts
• basic iconography

SHINTO:

• Shinto beliefs and the circles of ideas involved
• the kami and Shinto gods
• Shinto myths
• Shinto shrines – layout, architecture, materials; most significant sites
• Shinto rituals