A small portion of Japanese people are actually Buddhists – as a purpose of serving to their religious beliefs and sustaining Japan’s history with Buddhism, there are still a range of Buddha statues across the nation.

You can tell how old the statues are by the way they are made. The ones that have been carved out of wood are usually the most ancient. Usually, it takes a professional to sculpt the Buddha, since the Buddha-making comes with extremely meticulous rules. However the six I spotted today were apparently made by normal civilians 400 years back. Therefore it’s clear to the eye that the characteristics lie in their free expression of the making. I got to take a look at the Senshu Kannon (1000-armed kannon) with only two arms, and the Jyuichimen Kannon (11-faced Kannon) with only one face.

Apparently the people back then adapted the characteristics of the people who lived in the area, and the rather normal features that the Buddha holds seemed to reveal that pretty well.

Matsumoto

おもしろい岩手の仏像

日本には、仏教の信仰対象である仏の姿を表現した仏像というものがある。作られた年代が古い仏像は、一般的に木を立体的に彫った彫像だ。普通は、仏師と言われる専門の人が、細かい決まり事があって作るが、400年以上前のこの６体の仏像はどうやら地元の人が作ったらしい。先例や規範に囚われない自由な作風が特徴だ。

千手観音と呼ばれながらも手は２本しかないし、十一面観音と呼ばれながらも、顔が一つしかない仏像もある。

６体は、この地域の人々に似ているそうだ。素朴な風貌から、この地に住む人々の人柄や様子が垣間見えてくる。

松本