promotion by Shōmu
TITLE: Buddhism: Nara and Heian periods
SECTION: Nara and Heian periods
...Buddha” statue (Daibutsu)—the national cult centre. Buddhist schools imported from China became established in Nara, and state-subsidized provincial temples (kokubunji) made the system effective at the local level as well.
TITLE: Japanese art: Nara period
SECTION: Nara period
...Shōmu (724–749) to press determinedly for strengthening the spiritual corrective that he perceived to be offered by Buddhism. In 741 he established the kokubunji system, building a monastery and a nunnery in each province, all under a central authority at Nara. In 743 he initiated the planning for construction of that central...
TITLE: Japan: Beginning of the imperial state
SECTION: Beginning of the imperial state
One of the measures he took was the founding of the provincial temples known as kokubunji. Each province was to build a monastery (kokubunji) and a nunnery (kokubun niji), each with a seven-story pagoda and each housing a statue of the Shakyamuni Buddha. Each monastery was to have 20 monks, each nunnery 10 nuns, whose constant task would be to recite the scriptures...