Concomitant with Buddhism, certain elements of ancient Indian culture too travelled to many countries, including Japan. Japanese interest in ancient India, accordingly, lay largely in Buddhism and its related cultural aspects, specially Buddhist arts and architecture. In view of the currently growing ties between India and Japan, this book traces their historical interchanges since olden times – highlighting ancient Indian influence on Japan synthetically: in both moral and material cultures, with Buddhist as well as non-Buddhist elements. For this comparative study of the two civilizations, the author has not only carried out extensive fieldwork, but also investigated archaeological artifacts: in both India and Japan.

Dr Yoshihiro Kaburagi, (b. 1947), took Ph.D (History) from Panjab University, Chandigarh, under a Government of India’s scholarship under the Indo-Japan Cultural Exchange Programme. Earlier, he had been employed with National Panasonic India, as Deputy General Manager.