Makibi,* who went to China at the
same time as Nakamaro, and after twenty years' close study of
Confucius, returned in 735, having earned such a reputation for
profound knowledge of history, the five classics, jurisprudence,
mathematics, philosophy, calendar making, and other sciences that the
Chinese parted with him reluctantly. In Japan he was raised to the
high rank of asomi, and ultimately became minister of the Right
during the reign of Shotoku.

*Generally spoken of as "Kibi no Mabi," and credited by tradition
with the invention of the katakana syllabary.

Such incidents speak eloquently of the respect paid in Japan to
mental attainments and of the enlightened hospitality of China. In
the realm of Buddhism perhaps even more than in that of secular
science, this close intercourse made its influence felt. Priests went
from Japan to study in China, and priests came from China to preach
in Japan. During the Nara era, three of these men attained to special
eminence. They were Doji, Gembo, and Kanshin. Doji was the great
propagandist of the Sanron sect, whose tenets he had studied in China
for sixteen years (701-717). From plans prepared by him and taken
from the monastery of Hsi-ming in China, the temple Daian-ji was
built under the auspices of the Emperor Shomu, and having been richly
endowed, was placed in Doji's charge as lord-abbot. Gembo, during a
sojourn of two years at the Tang Court, studied the tenets of the
Hosso sect, which, like the Sanron, constituted one of the five sects
originally introduced into Japan. Returning in 736, he presented to
the Emperor Shomu five thousand volumes of the Sutras, together with
a number of Buddhist images, and he was appointed abbot of the
celebrated temple, Kofuku-ji. The third of the above three religious
celebrities was a Chinese missionary named Kanshin. He went to Japan
accompanied by fourteen priests, three nuns, and twenty-four laymen,
and the mission carried with it many Buddhist relics, images, and
Sutras. Summoned to Nara in 754, he was treated with profound
reverence, and on a platform specially erected before the temple
Todai-ji, where stood the colossal image of Buddha--to be presently
spoken of--the sovereign and many illustrious personages performed
the most solemn rite of Buddhism under the ministration of Kanshin.
He established a further claim on the gratitude of the Empress by
curing her of an obstinate malady, and her Majesty would fain have
raised him t