Jōchō
The master who assembled statues.
Jōchō developed the yosegi technique, in which statues are assembled from many blocks of wood. His Amida at Byōdō-in became the model for Japanese Buddhist sculpture.
Jōchō was active in the first half of the 11th century and died in 1057. He was the son or pupil of the sculptor Kōshō and ran a large workshop in Kyoto during the Heian period, when the powerful Fujiwara family ruled Japan in the emperor's name. His patrons included Fujiwara no Michinaga and his son Yorimichi.
Jōchō perfected the yosegi-zukuri technique, in which a statue is assembled from many hollowed-out blocks of wood instead of being carved from a single trunk. The technique made it possible to create large, light statues that did not crack, and the work could be divided among many craftsmen. The workshop became a model for how sculptors in Japan organised their work. In 1022 Jōchō became the first sculptor to receive an honorary rank in the Buddhist hierarchy, which shows how highly his profession was now valued.
His only securely surviving work is the Amida Nyorai in the Phoenix Hall of the Byōdō-in temple in Uji, south of Kyoto, from 1053. The gilded wooden statue is almost three metres high and sits in meditation with a calm, gentle face. The body is rounded and harmonious, and the drapery folds are shallow and soft. Around it on the walls float some fifty small bodhisattvas on clouds, made in his workshop.
Jōchō's style became the model for Japanese Buddhist sculpture for more than a hundred years, and many later statues copied his proportions. The Amida at Byōdō-in is a National Treasure and one of the best-known sculptures in Japan.