Sacred Art & Iconography
Great Buddha of Nara
artwork
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A colossal seated bronze statue of Vairocana Buddha, properly called Rushana Butsu, housed in the Great Buddha Hall of Todai-ji in Nara, Japan. Emperor Shomu commissioned it in 743 as part of a state project binding Buddhism to imperial rule, and it required nearly all the copper then available in Japan to cast. The statue was completed and its eyes ceremonially opened in 752 by the Indian monk Bodhisena, standing roughly fifteen meters tall. Earthquakes and fires damaged it more than once over the centuries, and its head dates to a 1692 restoration while portions of the body retain original eighth-century bronze. It remains the largest bronze Buddhist statue in the world.
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Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectVairocana Buddha, the cosmic Buddha whose light and compassion illumine all things in the Kegon school's teaching, seated in the lotus position with the right hand raised in a gesture of reassurance. 1 Devotional FunctionA state-sponsored object of devotion at the center of Nara-period Buddhism, its consecration ceremony in 752 was one of the largest religious events of its era, drawing thousands and formally binding Buddhist worship to imperial authority. 2 Origins
Date of CreationCast 743 to 749, consecrated 752 1 Commissioned By Custody
Current LocationDaibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall), Todai-ji, Nara, Japan 2 Current CustodianTodai-ji, Kegon sect of Japanese Buddhism 2 Physical Form
MediumCast bronze with gold gilding 1 DimensionsApproximately 15 meters (49 feet) seated height 1 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightThe statue itself is centuries past any copyright term, but a specific modern photograph of it carries its own separate copyright. This atlas describes and cites the work rather than reproducing an image of it. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
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This source names Emperor Shomu directly: "Hall of Todai-ji in Nara, Japan. Emperor Shomu commissioned it in 743 as part of a state project binding Buddhism to imperial rule, and it required nearly all the copper then available in Japan to..."
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