American Buddhist Net

04/14/2006
By KIYOSHI SUGIMOTO
The Asahi Shimbun

OSAKA--History remembers eighth-century Emperor Shomu for ordering the Great Buddha to be built at Todaiji temple in Nara and propagating the Buddhist faith. But just what triggered such devotion had mystified researchers.

Now, they think they may have an answer. They say the emperor likely was profoundly affected by a devastating earthquake that struck what is now Osaka and its vicinity in April 734 shortly after he had visited the area.

During his life (701-756), Emperor Shomu established state-run provincial temples across Japan. But his crowning achievement was the Great Buddha at Nara, then the nation's capital.

A study by a team jointly led by historian Katsunori Imazu and seismologist Takashi Kumamoto, both associate professors at Okayama University, said the earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.0 to 7.5. For comparison, the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 that killed more than 6,400 people had a magnitude of 7.3.

The quake in 734 hit soon after the emperor had visited the Naniwanomiya palace in present-day Osaka and the Takaharai-Karimiya detached palace in Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture.

He was in Nara when the quake struck.

The researchers used government records and other data to create a quake intensity map for the 734 temblor.

The area the emperor visited experienced particularly severe damage. The seismic intensity was probably equivalent to upper 6 or greater, according to the map.

Emperor Shomu issued a general amnesty in July that year, saying he himself was responsible for a series of natural disasters. In the years following, he gave orders to promote the copying and chanting of Buddhist sutras.

"His devotion to Buddhism may have strengthened due to his shock that the area he had just visited was hit by a disaster," Imazu said.

Sadako Takinami, a professor of ancient Japanese history at Kyoto Women's University, concurs.

"There may already have been a foundation for Emperor Shomu's embrace of the Buddhist faith," she said, citing his son's death at an early age and the influence of his wife, Empress Komyo, who was known for her charitable acts due to her Buddhist faith.

"We can pretty well surmise that his devotion was strengthened due to the earthquake," Takinami said.(IHT/Asahi: April 14,2006)

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