Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Buddhism, founded in India, arrived in Japan via China and Korea and was adopted by the Japanese court in the mid-sixth century. Different sects evolved and were adopted over the centuries. In 741, a decree was promulgated ordering the construction of a network of monasteries and nunneries near every provincial capital.
The centralized, bureaucratic government of the Nara period (710–794) was based in the capital Nara, which was modeled on the great Chinese Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an. The city is estimated to have housed a population of 200,000, the majority of them court functionaries. Avidly absorbing ideas from mainland East Asia, the city became the grand diocese of Buddhism in the far eastern destination of the Silk Road. Nara artisans produced refined Buddhist sculpture and built grand Buddhist temples." [DK Timelines, p. 135]