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

The overall structure of the pedestal (comprised of upturned lotus petals, an upper frame, a body, a lower frame, down-turned lotus petals and a bottom frame) is basically the same as that of the seated image of the Maitreya of Yachuji Temple. However, in terms of the overall sculpting of the image, this one has a better balance between the head and the body and milder facial features.
The body, including the pedestal, is created in one cast. It seems that it was originally hollowed out up to the chest. However, since the area from the right chest to the back has been tinkered with – probably due to a failure in original casting – the inside of the current image is hollowed out below the hips while the upper body above the hips is solid. There are traces of melted copper having flowed out from the hips to the base of the right leg as a result of the tinkering. The thickness of the copper below the hips is not even, being thick in front and very thin in the back. There are many mold cavities spreading over almost the entire image. There are many places that have been repaired with inlay, such as the tip of the right shoulder, the back of the hips, the outside of the left thigh and the upturned lotus petals and part of the lower frame on the back of the pedestal. Gold plating remains over almost the entire surface except the reverse side of the head ornament and the hair. For coloring, lapis lazuli remains on the hair, vermillion (or Bengala) remains in the area from the reverse sides of the head ornaments on the right and left sides of the head to the ribbons hanging from the crown and on the lips, while black sumi lines outlining the eyebrows, eyes and eyeballs can also be seen. The entire inner surface of the image is painted in Bengala.