”Enku” who is a monk who never belonged to specific temple, sect and continued their training while on pilgrimage across Japan in the 17th century called “Yugyo-so” visited Arako-Kannon Temple in Nagoya, Japan several times. He carved over 120 thousands Buddha statures in his life and left 1,250 statures in this temple including fierce deva kings over 10 feet in the temple gate shown in the photo.
He was born in Mino which is currently Gifu Prefecture. He entered the Buddhist priesthood in his childhood. He practiced Buddhism at Kodenji in Kita-Nagoya City and saw a holly priest, Gyoki, gave his all for people. Enku respected Gyoki and decided to carve over 120 thousands of Buddha statures to save people. From his age of 23, he practiced Buddhism in mountains such as Mt.Fuji, Mt.Hakusan in between Gifu Prefecture and Ishikawa Prefecture, and Mt.Ibuki in Shiga Prefecture. From his age of around 32, he continued to carve Buddha statures for people who suffer from sickness and disaster. His carved Buddha statures are smiling. He traveled in Tohoku and Hokkaido area in his thirties, in Osaka, Nagoya area in his forties, and in Tokyo, Gifu area in his fifties.
He visited Arako-Kannon several times from 45 years old until 54 years old. The biggest Buddha statures he carved in Arako-Kannon is two Deva Kings in the Deva Gate in front of the temple with height of 3.21m. The smallest one is Amitabha Tathagata with height of 2.8cm.
He carved over 120 thousands of Buddha statures and many of them are smiling. Those are for people who can pray without constraint. However, the design of his statures is highly evaluated as art. Some temples treat his work as a Buddhist statue rarely shown to the public at those temples.
You can see his work at some temples in Japan. At Arako-Kannon in Nagoya, if you are lucky, you can carve your own Buddha stature.
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