Busshi

A busshi (仏師) is a Japanese term for Buddhist artists who specialized in painting or sculpting images for Buddhist temples, predominantly in the Nara period.[1][2] Painters were specifically known as e-busshi (絵仏師), whereas sculptors who worked with wood were called ki-busshi.[3] Busshi were organized into both categories of task and grade of mastery: sō-busshi (惣仏師, master) dai-busshi (大仏師, major), gon-busshi (権仏師, assistant), tō-busshi (頭仏師, supervisor), and shō-busshi (小仏師, apprentice).[4] These rank designations continued in use until the Heian period.

  1. ^ Louis-Frédéric (2002). Japan Encyclopedia. Harvard University Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5.
  2. ^ Graham, Patricia J. (2007-09-30). Faith and Power in Japanese Buddhist Art, 1600–2005. University of Hawaii Press. p. 252. ISBN 978-0-8248-6246-6.
  3. ^ Iwao, Seiichi; Sakamato, Tarō; Hōgetsu, Keigo; Yoshikawa, Itsuji; Akiyama, Terukazu; Iyanaga, Shôkichi; Matsubara, Hideichi; Kanazawa, Shizue (1978). "9. E-busshi". Dictionnaire Historique du Japon (in French). 4 (1): 124–125.
  4. ^ 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ),世界大百科事典内言及. "小仏師(しょうぶっし)とは? 意味や使い方". コトバンク (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-08-23.