In The Four Great Temples: Buddhist Archeology, Architecture, and Icons of Seventh-Century Japan, Donald F. McCallum sets himself the restricted yet daring task of asking how the shape and substance of some of the most imposing structures of ancient Japan were brought into being. In so doing, he provides us with a remarkable history of seventh- and early eighth-century Japanese religious architecture and politics that is figuratively and literally built from the ground up. Interwoven within McCallum's exhaustive account of the technical challenges that confronted the architects of the “Four Great Temples” of the title is a second narrative centered on twentieth-century archeologists sleuthing through clues left above and below ground. For the reader who is willing to tackle the imposing amount of data synthesized by McCallum, the virtues of this book will consist not only of the sheer scope of the information provided, but also of McCallum's deft handling of the interplay between these two narratives.

Following a preliminary chapter dedicated to a discussion of methodological issues, the book is structured as a series of case studies, with individual chapters devoted to Asukadera, Kudara Ôdera, Kawaradera, and Yakushiji, respectively. In a short concluding chapter, McCallum summarizes his previous discussions and offers a few speculations concerning the political and intellectual contexts from which the temples emerged. The book is extremely well produced, with numerous maps, illustrations, and photographs, as well as a comprehensive index.

As McCallum notes in his introduction, each temple is discussed in terms of not only the unique engineering challenges that it posed to seventh-century architects and engineers, but also the interpretive issues that serve as the core points of contention for archeologists and historians of our own day. In chapter 1, for instance, we are asked to ponder not only the role of Asukadera as “the first proper Buddhist temple in any meaningful sense” in the Japanese islands, but also the astounding audacity of the temple's Soga patrons, who brought into being a complex that dwarfed any other edifice in the Japanese islands in size and in technological complexity. In chapter 2, McCallum focuses on the search for Kudara Ôdera and its famed nine-story pagoda, the existence of which, remarkably, remained open to debate as recently as 1997. Here we are treated to a detailed account of the numerous clues and hypotheses of archeologists that finally bore fruit in excavations of the Kibi Pond in Nara Prefecture. The efforts of these archeologists, McCallum shows, unexpectedly confirmed the accuracy of accounts from early Japanese historical sources, even as they provided a new vantage point for understanding Japanese royal patronage of the Buddhist tradition in comparison to the nations of the Korean peninsula. In chapter 3, McCallum discusses the enigmatic history of Kawaradera, an architectural structure with demonstrably extensive influence on the construction of other buildings during the period that nonetheless is virtually bereft of contemporaneous textual documentation. In chapter 4, finally, he investigates the numerous interpretive challenges related to the construction of Yakushiji, as well as the temple's political and symbolic role in both the Fujiwara and Nara capitals.

As McCallum discusses each temple in turn, the mass of details begins to coalesce into a larger narrative that is closely related to the formation of the royal state. Throughout each chapter, McCallum highlights important changes in technological capabilities, the role of immigrant technicians and artisans, and the simple economic muscle of the early court. By relentlessly focusing on the materiality of each monument, he reminds us that these temples were made of wood, gravel, and tiles that were shaped and assembled through the labors and ingenuity of untold numbers of people with a bewildering array of specializations and interests. This approach often yields surprising results—by raising such questions as, “What did it mean to transfer a temple to a new capital?” McCallum is able to suggest new lines of inquiry related not only to issues of technological and organizational practices, but also, ultimately, to fundamental questions concerning the definition of Buddhist institutions in seventh-century Japan.

This work is clearly a major contribution to McCallum's field of art history, and to virtually any area of Nara studies as well. Although some readers may wish that McCallum had spent more time arguing for broader reflections concerning the ritual and intellectual contexts in which these temples were created and which they, in turn, helped shape, the strength of this book lies in its sharply delineated focus. While McCallum clearly has strong opinions concerning a broad range of issues, he is clear throughout the work that his goal is not to illuminate in broad sweeps the religiopolitical history of Japan, but rather to present a focused account of the processes that drove the construction of four great temples and the broader polity that they represented. In this, he has succeeded admirably.