By Tato Takahama
Pacific Research Institute
October 11, 2026
A Chinese documentary about Kūkai, one of Japan’s most revered Buddhist figures, is making its way around the United States. The film uses artificial intelligence to recreate the ninth-century monk. Its director, Yue Ye, says she was deeply moved by Kūkai’s life in 2019 and spent the next five years working with more than 800 collaborators to complete the project. The film premiered at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills on July 30 and is now being screened in several parts of the country.
The AI recreation is not what caught my attention. I want to know why Chinese filmmakers have devoted so much time and effort to Kūkai—and why they are bringing their film to American audiences now.
In conversations with Chinese intellectuals I know, I found that few were familiar with Kūkai. Chinese Buddhist scholars certainly know him, but among the broader public, he has nothing like the standing he enjoys in Japan, where he is revered as Kōbō Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism.
Kūkai was born in 774 and traveled to Tang China in 804 with a Japanese mission. At Qinglong Temple in Chang’an, he studied esoteric Buddhism under the master Huiguo. He returned to Japan and established what became the Shingon school. His journey to China and his study of Chinese Buddhism are matters of historical record.
But Kūkai occupies different places in the public consciousness of the two countries. In Japan, he is a major religious figure. In China, outside scholarly and Buddhist circles, he has not been nearly as well known.
That makes the history of his recent appearance on Chinese screens worth examining.
In 2018, a Chinese Japanese-Hong Kong co-production directed by Chen Kaige was released in Japan as Kūkai: The Mystery of the Beautiful Queen. In China, it was released as Legend of the Demon Cat. Set in Tang-dynasty Chang’an, the film brings together the poet Bai Juyi and Kūkai in a tale of mystery and intrigue.
What struck me was the choice to put Kūkai at the center of the Japanese release. Here was a Chinese production presenting a figure central to Japanese religious life and drawing attention to the cultural ties between the two countries.
Japanese audiences could take pleasure in the idea that China, too, valued Kūkai. At a time when relations between Japan and China were not particularly warm, the film could be read as an olive branch extended to the Japanese public. It offered a cultural connection rather than another argument over politics or history.
One film could not make Kūkai widely known across China. But it gave Japanese audiences another reason to think about the debt their country owed to Tang China.
Now Kūkai is being presented to a different audience, with a different emphasis.
The new Chinese documentary, KŪKAI, describes him on its official website as an “inheritor, interpreter, and innovator” of Chinese traditions abroad. It stresses how Tang civilization took root in Japan. The filmmakers say they spent five years and enlisted more than 800 collaborators to bring the project to the screen. They are also making a concerted effort to show it in the United States.
There is no need to dispute the historical facts. Kūkai went to China, studied Buddhist teachings there, and carried them back to Japan. Chinese civilization had a profound influence on Japanese religion, philosophy, writing, and institutions.
But a film does more than recite facts. It decides which parts of history to emphasize and how to connect them. Present Kūkai primarily as a carrier of Chinese civilization, and the audience is likely to come away with a particular view of the relationship between the two cultures.
That is where I believe the film deserves attention from a political correspondent, not just a film critic.
China and Japan are facing a serious diplomatic crisis. Relations between Washington and Beijing are more complicated: the two countries compete strategically, yet their leaders continue to negotiate over trade and other issues. Japan remains a U.S. treaty ally, but President Donald Trump’s dealings with Xi Jinping have added uncertainty to the calculations in Tokyo.
China has also made the international promotion of its culture an explicit policy goal. In 2023, Xi introduced the Global Civilization Initiative, calling for dialogue among civilizations and for countries to preserve and develop their own cultural traditions. Beijing wants Chinese history and culture to be better understood abroad. That ambition is no secret.
I have seen no evidence that the Chinese government ordered this film to be made or directed its American screenings. It would be wrong to present that as an established fact. But the absence of proof of direct government involvement does not make the film’s message politically irrelevant.
Put yourself in Beijing’s position for a moment. If you wanted to improve China’s image in a United States where suspicion of China runs deep, you would not rely on political speeches alone. You would look for other ways to reach people.
Japanese culture has a substantial audience in America. What if a film used a revered Japanese monk to tell American viewers how much Japanese religious and intellectual life owes to China? The point would not have to be that Japanese culture is somehow inferior. The message could be more effective precisely because it recognizes Japan’s achievements while emphasizing the Chinese influence behind them.
That is a plausible reading of the film’s cultural significance, not proof of the filmmakers’ private intentions. I am not suggesting that the film fabricates history. The more interesting question is how real historical facts can be arranged to promote a particular view of China’s place in the world.
In that sense, cultural influence does not depend on making up a past. It can work by selecting a past, giving it emphasis, and presenting it to an audience that may never have considered the story from that angle.
How have Americans responded to KŪKAI? We should be careful about making claims on their behalf.
The film’s official website reports that three ticketed screenings in Northern California sold out, with 504 tickets sold. That is the filmmakers’ own figure, not an independent measure of the film’s reach. The film has been shown at selected venues and community events, but that is not the same as a wide release reaching the American public at large.
Film critic Jana J. Monji praised some of the film’s landscape imagery but criticized its idealized portrait of Kūkai and the limited exploration of his character. She also questioned some historical claims and found the AI-generated Kūkai unconvincing. Hers is one critic’s assessment, not a verdict from American audiences. Still, her review raises questions about the way the film chooses to portray its subject.
My concern goes beyond whether the AI-generated monk looks convincing. Why did the filmmakers choose Kūkai? Why invest five years and the work of hundreds of collaborators in his story? And why take that story to audiences in the United States at this particular moment?
The earlier Chinese Japanese production presented Kūkai to Japanese audiences as a link between Japan and Tang China. The new documentary places greater emphasis on Kūkai as a bearer of Chinese civilization and brings that narrative to America. We cannot assume that the two productions had the same political purpose. But the change in audience—and in the way Kūkai is framed—is worth noticing.
For Americans who admire Japan, the film offers a story about the Chinese roots of parts of Japanese culture. For Chinese audiences, Kūkai can serve as a reminder of the reach of Tang civilization. For anyone watching the relationship between China and Japan, the film raises a larger question: who gets to tell the story of a shared cultural past, and what do they want the audience to see?
I am not arguing that every Chinese cultural production is a government operation. Nor do I claim to know what the filmmakers privately intended. I am saying that a film can have significance beyond its creators’ stated purpose, especially when it takes a historical figure from one country and presents him to audiences in another.
Kūkai’s journey to Tang China is history. What China chooses to emphasize about that journey, and why it is now bringing that story to America, is a question of the present.
The real story is not the AI-generated monk. It is why China wants Americans to see Kūkai this way, now.
Note: English translation was prepared by the author. Translation assistance tools may have been used.
2026 OCT | A Japanese View from America | PRI | アメリカ人は記録映画「AI空海」をどう見たか――中国が描く「中国文化を受け継いだ日本人・空海」
The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cultural News.
References
- KŪKAI Official Website. “KŪKAI Movie — Official Documentary Film about Japanese Monk Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi).”
https://kukaimovie.com/en/
The filmmakers’ account of the documentary’s purpose, production, and U.S. screenings. Attendance figures are reported by the filmmakers. - Jana J. Monji. “Kūkai: Hallmark Lovely Moments But the Film Is Only for the Fanatical Faithful.” Age of the Geek, August 5, 2026.
https://ageofthegeek.org/2026/08/05/kukai-hallmark-lovely-moments-but-the-film-is-only-for-the-fanatical-faithful-%E2%AD%90%EF%B8%8F/
A film critic’s assessment of the documentary’s portrayal of Kūkai, historical claims, and use of AI. - Japan Film Database (JFDB). “Kūkai: The Mystery of the Beautiful Queen” (Kūkai—KU-KAI: Utsukushiki Ōhi no Nazo), 2018.
https://jfdb.jp/en/title/8141
Production and release information for Chen Kaige’s film, released in China as Legend of the Demon Cat. - John Krummel. “Kūkai.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Substantive revision September 10, 2026.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kukai/
Scholarly background on Kūkai’s life, his journey to Tang China, and his Buddhist thought. - The State Council of the People’s Republic of China. “Full Text of Xi Jinping’s Keynote Address at the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting.” March 16, 2023.
https://english.www.gov.cn/news/topnews/202303/16/content_WS641262bbc6d0f528699db546.html
A primary source on Xi Jinping’s Global Civilization Initiative and China’s stated approach to civilizational dialogue and mutual learning. - The White House. “President Trump, First Lady Conclude Historic China State Visit.” September 25, 2026.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/09/president-trump-first-lady-conclude-historic-china-state-visit/
The U.S. government’s official account of the September 2026 meeting and state visit involving President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping.
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This article is part of A Japanese View from America, a series by Tato Takahama.
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