National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

The style of this statue is similar to that of the standing Nyorai (Tathagata) statues of the Tori School, but the end of the Daie (a formal robe) covering both shoulders is not hung on its left shoulder and arm and the size of its head and hands are not emphasized as much. In addition, the Emon (the style of drapery) is a little different from the Tori style in which the pattern of the folds is strictly symmetrical. Thus this statue may be different from those in the Tori School as its expression is gentler on the whole than that of the Tori School.
The body is created in one cast including the pedestal with a downward lotus petal decoration (Kaeribana-za) and the inside is hollowed up to below the neck of the body. The bronze of the hollowed body and the pedestal is almost uniform in thickness and it is rather thin. In the center of the back, a square chaplet is found. The inside surface of the statue is rough and torose in many places. The index and middle fingertips of the left hand are made separately and jointed. Plating remains over almost the entire surface except for the hair. As for coloring, it can be found that the hair was painted in ultramarine, the lips in vermilion (or Indian red) and the eyebrows, the outline of the eyes, the irises, the mustache and the beard were drawn in black ink.