Abstract

“Song-style 宋風 stone lions” is a term commonly seen in scholarly literature on medieval Japanese stone carvings. It refers primarily to the Chinese stone lions imported into Japan from around 1200 to the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries, as well as to stone lion figures carved by Southern Song stonemasons in Japan. Like other Song-style stone carvings such as Satsuma pagodas 薩摩塔, they are important remains of cultural exchange along the Sino-Japanese maritime Silk Road. Through comparative analysis of their morphological features, it is possible to trace the evolutionary lineage of the extant Song-style stone lions in Japan. The imported examples can be divided into two main types, A and B. Type A can be further subdivided into three sequential subtypes (I, II, III). All stone lions of Subtypes I and II of Type A and the earliest ones of Subtype III, together with Type B examples, generally date from around 1200 to the Song-Yuan transitional period, and can therefore be considered “Song-style” stone lions in the strict sense. The lion figures left by Southern Song stonemasons in Japan, which are mainly works of the late 12th to early 13th century, share morphological characteristics with the early imported Song-style stone lions—namely, Subtype I of Type A. The analysis of stone material sources suggests that most of the extant imported Song-style stone lions in Japan might have come from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang 江浙 region, China. In fact, the lineage of Song-style stone lions outlined on the basis of the Japanese examples is equally applicable to the study of contemporaneous stone lions found in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region. Moreover, it should also be noted that the transmission of Song-style stone lions and their craftsmanship to Japan occurred in the context of the prosperity of the Sino-Japanese maritime Silk Road and the eastward spread of Song-style Buddhist culture. The production, importation, placement and preservation of most Song-style stone lions in medieval Japan are closely tied to Sino-Japanese Buddhist cultural exchanges.

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