Standing Monk｜Nara National Museum

Standing Monk

Wood with pigments and cut gold leaf
H. 28.9cm
Kamakura period　
13th century

H009833

H009833
2011/04/27

H009836
2011/04/27

H009839
2011/04/27

H009842
2011/04/27

H009845
2011/04/27

H009848
2011/04/27

H009851
2011/04/27

H009854
2011/04/27

H009856
2011/04/27

H009859
2011/04/27

H009862
2011/04/27

H009865
2011/04/27

H009868
2011/04/27

Hands pressed together in prayer, this monk exhibits some of the characteristics of a Buddha, a triple-lined neck, elongated string-like earlobes and a tuft of hair on the forehead, known as a byakugō. It may represent Jizō bosatsu (Skt. Kṣitigarbha), who is similarly depicted in stone images in the second and fourth grottoes at Ōya in Tochigi Prefecture or perhaps it is one of the ten disciples of the historic Buddha.

Shigeki Iwata
Masterworks from the Nara Buddhist Sculpture Hall at the Nara National Museum. Nara National Museum, 2012, p.109, no.143.

Accession Number	1444-0
Category	Sculptures
Bibliography	Masterworks from the Nara Buddhist Sculpture Hall at the Nara National Museum. Nara National Museum, 2013, 168p. Jōkei : a Monk at the Heart of Kamakura-era Buddhism : Special 800th Memorial Exhibition. Nara National Museum, 2012, 286p. (Japanese) Masterworks from the Nara Buddhist Sculpture Hall at the Nara National Museum. Nara National Museum, 2012, 168p.