VIDEO. Length = 5.44 minutes. 15th-16th century Niō statues on the world art market. Join Mark Schumacher as he explores the iconography of the Niō guardians at Tōdaiji Temple, Nara, Japan. Promotional video for the auction of a Muromachi-period set of Niō temple guardians. The statues are styled after the famous Niō pair at Tōdaiji Temple in Nara Japan. The auction site is here.

VIDEO. Length = 30 minutes. Journeys in Japan, NHK World Television (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). Join Mark Schumacher as he explores 12th-century Buddhist statuary and stone carvings in Ōita Prefecture. First broadcast outside Japan on April 16, 2013. Broadcast in Japan on May 8, 2013. To view the NHK World archive and Mark’s travel log, click here.

VIDEO. Length = 6 minutes. Features nearly 20 stone statues in the private garden of Mark Schumacher. Says Mark: “When I began studying Buddhist statuary in 1995, Gabi-san was the first to contact me. She has since become a mentor, advisor, inspiration, and friend. Blessings to you GABI and your long years of work cataloging and explaining Japanese culture to foreign readers." See index to Gabi’s web sites. Video by M. Schumacher. Created Aug. 31, 2011.

VIDEO. Length = 10 minutes. Features interview with D.T. Suzuki. This is only a small snippet of a much larger DVD entitled A Zen Life: D.T. Suzuki, a documentary by Michael Goldberg. Includes rare footage of Suzuki, who did more than anyone else to bring Zen Buddhism to the West. Numerous luminaries, such as Donald Richie, Wm. Theodore de Bary, Gary Snyder, John Cage, Huston Smith, Mihoko Okamura, and others, also appear. Buy the full DVD here. Simply wonderful. 

VIDEO. Length = 7.57 minutes. Alan Watts - On Nothingness. The lauded British scholar Alan Watts (d. 1973) was well known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for Western audiences, especially about Chinese Taoism. His work, "TAO The Watercourse Way," was a beautiful book, and played a big part in my early studies. Video from Youtube.

VIDEO. Length = 24 minutes. Part Four of a Nine-Part NHK Television series featuring Buddhist sculptor Matsumoto Myōkei 松本明慶 (a famous living busshi 仏師) giving lessons to two lay people. One student is a famous ningyō-doll artist 人形作家, the other a famous rakugo-comedy artist 落語家. Most of the statues they create are Jizō statues, but there are others, like Fudō. Visit our BUSSHI PAGES to learn more about Japan’s most celebrated sculptors. To learn more about Matsumoto Sensei, see Gabi Greve’s page.