Legend has it that in ancient times a mask made its way from India to Japan. One look at today's Noh mask called Beshimi would confirm this legend: Its tea-colored complexion, large eyes and ample nostrils certainly make it look nothing like a Japanese, but like a native of India.
Such legends partially attest to the fact that India is the mother of Japanese culture.
Japan's aesthetic sense may have come from Korea and China — in tea, architecture, painting and sculpture — to be refined here into something truly exquisite and unique. But all of this was based on Buddhism. Without the underpinning Buddhist philosophy from India, Japanese art and thinking would be so much ornament and decoration.