Artworks

Amida Triad, Fudō Myōō and Bishamonten

願成就院運慶作諸仏

Artwork · Unkei · 1186 · statue · Ganjōju-in Temple

Five statues — Amida with two attendant bodhisattvas, Fudō and Bishamon — carved in 1186 for the warrior Hōjō Tokimasa, who prayed for the success of his campaign to the north-east; two inscribed plates name Unkei beside Tokimasa1. Unkei’s own style appears here for the first time, already mature; they are his first work for the Kamakura shogunate2. Kobayashi 1954, “Statues of Amida with two waiting Sattvas, and those of Fudo and of Bishamon and two inscribed plates, attached to the two latters, still remain, dated 1186, at Ganjoju-in Temple, in Izu Province. They were made on the commission of Hojo Tokimasa, praying for the success of his North-eastern expedition.” · “he had his name written on these plates side by side with that of Hojo Tokimasa”. ↩ TNM, Unkei 2017, “Unkei’s original style can be observed for the first time in a set of five sculptures he carved for Ganjojuin temple in Shizuoka in 1186 (Bunji 2) at the order of the warrior Hojo Tokimasa. Judging from the quality of these images, it would appear that Unkei’s artistic style had already matured fully by this time”, und Kobayashi 1954, “these statues were his first work, made on the commission of the Kamakura Shogunate”. ↩ Literatur Kobayashi 1954: Takeshi Kobayashi, Study on the Life and Works of Unkei. English Summary, (Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Monograph No. 1), Tenri 1954. TNM, Unkei 2017: UNKEI – The Great Master of Buddhist Sculpture (special exhibition, 2017), in: Tokyo National Museum, Exhibitions (2017), https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=1861&lang=en (zuletzt abgerufen am 28.10.2026).