Page 242 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

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132 monks were itinerant and stayed Gyódó's sculptures are composed of
Mokujiki Gyódó (1718-1810) away from the large monastic centers. rounded lines and forms that impart
Yakushi Triad A number of them were sculptors (see a warmth and fullness to his figures.
also cat. 133), the best known of In this work the face of the central
Dated 1780 whom is Mokujiki Gyódó. figure of Yakushi (Buddha of healing)
Wood has a benevolent, compassionate
Height of Yakushi 35.5 (14) Mokujiki Gyódó (also "Gogyó" and expression, characteristic of Gyódó's
Tochikubo Yaskushido, Tochigi "Myóman") was a monk of the Shingon work. These figures constitute the
sect who took priestly vows in 1739
• Mokujiki is usually part of the name and mokujiki vows in 1762. At the age main devotional image in a Yakushi
Hall, where they are enshrined,
given to monks who practice an ex- of fifty-six (in 1773) he took a further flanked by Nikkó and Gakkó, the
treme ascetic form of Japanese Bud- vow to travel around Japan, and it is boddhisattvas of the sun and moon,
dhism. This can lead to confusions thought that he began to carve images respectively. Yakushi holds a medi-
in identity among monks, who often only after the age of sixty. From then cine jar symbolizing his healing
have other names as well. Mokuji until his death at ninety-three he cre- powers. RTS
ated more than a thousand sculptures.