What effect did China have on the Culture and Religion of Japan?

(i) Due to geographical proximity, China and Japan had close links.

(ii) The Japanese script evolved from the Chinese pictographic script around 400 AD.

(iii) Japanese literature, too, was influenced by the Chinese.

(iv) Buddhism reached Japan through China and became more popular than the original Shinto religion of the Japanese.

(v) Japanese scholars visited China to study Buddhist texts, which later led to the development of Zen Buddhism.

(vi) Buddhism deeply influenced Japanese art, architecture and sculpture,