Making a Unkei Buddha [Part 3] Reunited with Jikokuten after a Year and a Half

[The real thing truly has a different aura]

I was finally able to go to the special exhibition "Unkei: The Space of Prayer - Kofuku-ji Temple's Northern Octagonal Hall" currently being held at the Tokyo National Museum.

This special exhibition is truly a "special exhibition" worthy of the name.
It features a circular formation with the Maitreya Buddha seated statue at the center, flanked by the brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu, and guarded by the Four Heavenly Kings, all of which are works of the Kei school.

According to advance information, the exhibition room was supposed to have a serene atmosphere, so I was expecting a setting like the Todai-ji Kaidan-do that quietly welcomes visitors, but as expected, it was a huge success and as crowded as the Great Buddha Hall.
Well, I suppose that's to be expected. It can't be helped.

In any case, I face Jikokuten.
It has been a year and a half since I last saw him at the Central Golden Hall during the special public viewing of the Northern Octagonal Hall. Usually, he is enshrined on the Sumeru pedestal in the Central Golden Hall, so you cannot see him this close up.
Actually, he was also exhibited here at the Tokyo National Museum in 2017 for the "Unkei" special exhibition commemorating the reconstruction of the Kofuku-ji Central Golden Hall, where close-up viewing was possible, but at that time, the Kaiyodo kit had not yet been released. I was just appreciating it as a fan of ancient art, and I didn't do anything as unrefined as checking the details as a modeler.

This time is different.
Despite that enthusiasm, the first thing I felt upon reuniting with him was the incredible aura emitted by the real thing.
"I'm making a model of you," is not an atmosphere where I could possibly say that. If I said that, he would probably get angry (well, he's already angry), so I just bowed my head and said, "I surrender."
However, once I waited for my heart to calm down, I noticed a few things from a modeler's perspective.

The rock pedestal is better in the kit

What caught my attention was the quality of the rock pedestal made of driftwood.
To be honest, I think the kit is better.
Since I built the pedestal part of the kit twice, I remember the shape and position of each piece of driftwood, but the real thing has more gaps compared to the kit and looks rather shabby.
Surely this is not the work of the Kei school workshop. For example, the difference is clear when compared to the modeling of the Suhamaza pedestal for Asanga and Vasubandhu.

This rock pedestal. When I looked into it, it seems the theory that it is a later addition is quite strong.
Even if it were the original work of the minor sculptors of the Kei school, it shouldn't be the original one. It is possible that when the Kofuku-ji temple complex was destroyed by fire, the statue was taken out along with the rock pedestal, but the individual pieces of driftwood were scattered and some were lost, so they somehow combined the remaining ones to maintain its appearance.

Maybe I should make the whole thing look whiter

Next, I noticed that the white color, which I assume is the gesso base where the coloring has fallen off, is more noticeable than I thought.
The catalog for the 2017 "Unkei Exhibition" contains full-body shots and close-ups of Jikokuten, but the white color is far more dominant than that impression.
If I may be so bold as to perform a somewhat harassing observation by peeking inside the skirt from below, it is almost entirely white.

The current kit is finished with antique coloring using mahogany, red brown, tan, and sail color, with a very small amount of green, which is Jikokuten's theme color, but it seems better to repaint the whole thing to look whiter.

It is obvious at a glance that it is a joined-wood construction

The fact that this statue is a joined-wood construction is probably a well-known fact for fans of ancient art and Buddhist statue enthusiasts.
However, it doesn't seem to be the case for general modelers, and many of the examples posted online are painted as if they were bronze statues. Well, famous ones like the Great Buddha at Todai-ji and the Maitreya Bodhisattva at Koryu-ji are bronze statues, and even if they are wooden statues, there are many cases where gold mud or lacquer has aged and looks like metal, so it can't be helped.
Although the kit's assembly manual clearly states "painting procedure for aged wood carving colors," it's no wonder people misunderstand, given that the example painting looks like a bronze statue.

However, if you look at the real thing up close, you can see the weathered wood grain peeking through.
I want to express that well when I repaint the kit.

Next time, I will renew my enthusiasm and proceed with the restoration of the kit.

Continued in [Part 4]
[Part2] Let's go with crystal eyes after all Return to
[Part1] First, restoration of "Jikokuten antique coloring" Return to