ABSTRACT
According to the Nihon shoki, Buddhism was introduced in Japan in the year 552, when the king of the Korean kingdom of Paekche sent Buddhist scriptures (sutras) to the Japanese ruler. From the outset, Buddhism was thus both highly political and elitist, and while there were certainly some genuine aristocratic believers, it was also widely used by these elites as a tool for state building. Saicho was born in the province of Omi, but traveled to Nara to become a monk at a young age. There, he became interested in Tendai Buddhism, a Mahayana school that preached that all human beings had the potential for enlightenment and that held a syncretic view of Buddhist practices. In 823, the same year that Saicho died and Tendai was recognized, Kukai's own school, Shingon, received official recognition as well. Saicho and Kukai were undoubtedly central figures in their own age, but their importance increased posthumously as their schools became more and more successful.
