Notes on Höryüji and the Sculpture of the "Suikö Period"

To ANYONE who had experienced the curiously flavored charm of the pre-war Höryüji, the near obliteration of the Kondö frescoes by fire in 1949 must have been felt first of all as a deep personal tragedy. 1 In the face of so overwhelming a loss, the lover of Far Eastern art has only the human recourse of refastening his ties of affection and interest the more securely to what is left, the buildings and the works of sculpture. This paper is for the writer the result of such a return, a small tribute to a perennial source of delight.