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Unkei (運慶; 1150 – 1223) was a Japanese sculptor of the Kei school, which flourished in the Kamakura period. He specialized in statues of the Buddha and other important Buddhist figures. Unkei's early works are fairly traditional, similar in style to pieces by his father, Kōkei. However, the sculptures he produced for the Tōdai-ji in Nara show a flair for realism different from anything Japan had seen before. Today, Unkei is the best known of the Kei artists, and many art historians consider him its "most distinguished member". Many extant works are said to be his, but the first that can be attributed to him with any certainty is a Dainichi Nyorai at Enjō-ji in Nara (1176). Unkei was a devout Buddhist, and records from 1183 (Heian period end) show that he transcribed two copies of the Lotus Sutra with the aid of two calligrapher monks and a woman sponsor named Akomaro. In the works' colophon, Unkei gives the names of all involved in performing the ritual obeisance (raihai) during the project's duration; the list includes Unkei himself and several members of his school. Unkei further records that he tallied the lines copied at the end of each day and then had devotees bow three times and chant the "august title" (likely daimoku) and the nembutsu for each one. In all, Unkei records that "During the copying, the above persons bowed fifty thousand times and [chanted] the nenbutsu one hundred thousand times, and the august title of the Lotus Sutra, one hundred thousand times." In 1203, Unkei worked with Kaikei, two other master sculptors, and 16 assistants to create two guardian figures for the gates of the Nandaimon (Great South Gate) of Tōdai-ji in Nara. The statues, known as the Kongō Rikishi or Niō, are 26 feet tall. The team finished the figures in 72 days using the yosegi technique of sculpting various pieces of wood separately and then combining them for the finished product. Sometime between 1208 and 1212, Unkei sculpted a figure of a Miroku Butsu (Sanskrit: Maitreya Buddha) at Tōdai-ji, along with several accompanied figures.

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Related concepts (16)

Kaikei

Kaikei was a Japanese Busshi (sculptor of Buddha statue) of Kamakura period, known alongside Unkei. Because many busshi of the school have a name including kei (慶), his school is called Kei-ha (Kei school). Kaikei being also called Annami-dabutsu, his style is called Anna-miyō (Anna style) and is known to be intelligent, pictorial and delicate. Most of his works have a height of about three shaku, and there are many of his works in existence. Amitabha Triad in Jōdo-ji in Ono (1195) - National Treasure of Japan.

Kei school

The Kei school was a Japanese school (style) of Buddhist sculpture which emerged in the early Kamakura period (c. 1200). Based in Nara, it was the dominant school in Buddhist sculpture in Japan into the 14th century, and remained influential until the 19th. Art historian Joan Stanley Baker cites the Kei school's early works as the last highpoint in the history of Japanese sculpture. The Kei school developed out of that led by the busshi (Buddhist sculptor) Jōchō's successor, Kakujō and Kakujō's son Raijō, the leading sculptors of the preceding generations.

Jōchō

Jōchō (定朝; died 1057 AD), also known as Jōchō Busshi, was a Japanese sculptor of the Heian period. He popularized the yosegi technique of sculpting a single figure out of many pieces of wood, and he redefined the canon of body proportions used to create Buddhist imagery. His style spread across Japan and defined Japanese sculpture for the next 150 years. Today, art historians cite Jōchō as "the first of a new kind of master sculptor" and "one of the most innovative artists Japan has ever produced.