| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this research is to reexamine the sculpture history in the early Kamakura period when Kokei, Unkei, Kaikei and others established their innovative style. In the current scholarly view, the Kamakura sculpture history, to put it more precisely, the "early" Kamakura sculpture history is described as the history of Kei school Buddhist sculptors. This standpoint is based on the following framework. After the establishment of sculptural style "Wayo" in Sekkan period, Jocho style, named after the leading figure of "Wayo" style Jocho, was dominant throughout the late Heian period. But at the end of the Heian period, the new style emerged in Nara district took it over as the representative style with the rise of Kei school sculptors. However, this way of describing the Kamakura sculpture history is misleading if taken at face value, since it gives us the impression that the center of the sculpture execution was in Nara. This impression is reinforced by the fact that the greater p
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art of their principal works remain there. To examine this conventional view, firstly, we have inquired the sculptures from the relevant period and secondly, collected the written documents concerning the art history from Goshirakawa-Insei period (1158-1197) and from Gotoba-Insei period (1198-1221). The former period is just anterior to the Kamakura period and the latter falls on the early Kamakura period. Outcomes of the research on the sculptures revealed that, among the works heretofore considered executed by Kyoto sculptor in the end of Heian period, not a few were actually from the early Kamakura period like the Buddhist statues in Chorakuji temple in Tottori, to cite a case. Furthermore, from the analysis of the written documents, we could demonstrate the flourishing activities of Kyoto sculptors, especially of In school. All these things make it clear that the Buddhist sculptors who belonged to the traditional studios mainly in Kyoto were no less active in the early Kamakura period. Through our achievement, we believe that we could show the necessity of reconsidering the general tendency in Kamakura sculpture studies which has laid disproportionate emphasis on Kei school sculptors. Less
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