Wooden Seated Statue of Amida Buddha (by Unkei) / Wooden

Five Buddhas by Unkei: The National Treasures of Ganjojuin Temple

In 1186, a sculptor in his early thirties named Unkei traveled from Nara to the Izu Peninsula to carve five Buddhist statues for a provincial warlord. Nobody involved could have known that the commission would mark a turning point in the history of Japanese sculpture. The five figures, an Amida Nyorai (Amitabha Buddha) seated in meditation, a fierce Fudo Myoo flanked by two boy attendants, and an armored guardian deity called Bishamonten, still occupy the altar of the Omido hall at Ganjojuin, a temple in Izunokuni City, Shizuoka Prefecture. All five were designated National Treasures as a group on June 19, 2013.

The patron was Hojo Tokimasa, father-in-law of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the warrior who would soon found the Kamakura shogunate. Wooden tablets shaped like five-ring pagodas, discovered inside four of the statues, record that carving began on the third day of the fifth month of Bunji 2 (1186). They name the master sculptor as Unkei, the patron as Taira no Tokimasa (the Hojo clan's formal surname), and the calligrapher of the inscriptions as a monk called Namu Kannon. Few medieval Japanese sculptures come with documentation this precise.

The temple itself followed three years later. According to the Azuma Kagami, the official chronicle of the Kamakura shogunate, Tokimasa founded Ganjojuin in 1189 to pray for victory in Yoritomo's campaign against the Fujiwara clan of Hiraizumi in northern Japan. The temple's name, which can be read as "the temple where wishes are fulfilled," proved apt. The campaign succeeded, and the Hojo family went on to rule Japan as regents for over a century.

Why These Statues Changed Japanese Sculpture

To understand what makes the Ganjojuin statues important, it helps to know what came before them. Through most of the twelfth century, Buddhist sculpture in Kyoto followed the style of the master Jocho: serene, shallow-carved figures with gentle faces and quiet drapery, suited to the refined taste of the aristocracy. The Ganjojuin Amida breaks with that tradition decisively. Its chest is broad, its posture commanding, and the folds of its robe are cut deep into the wood, catching shadow in a way the older style never attempted.

These statues are the earliest dated works Unkei produced for patrons in eastern Japan, and scholars regard them as the moment the new Kamakura style took definitive shape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes in its designation that the powerful realism on display here announced the completion of that style, with Unkei's technical mastery fully evident. The warriors who governed the east wanted images that matched their own world, muscular and direct, and Unkei delivered.

The five-ring pagoda tablets are included in the National Treasure designation as accessory items. Each carries a Sanskrit dharani inscription, and the two larger tablets, recovered from the Fudo Myoo and Bishamonten, were drilled with small cavities that once held Buddhist relics. A temple document of 1753, the Ganjojuin Shujiki, records the discovery of the tablets during an Edo-period restoration of the statues.

One detail deserves a caveat. The Amida itself contained no tablet, so its attribution rests on the Azuma Kagami's account of Unkei's work for the temple and on its stylistic unity with the documented four. Specialists accept it as Unkei's work, and the government designation names him without qualification, but the chain of evidence differs slightly from statue to statue.

What to Look For in the Omido Hall

The Omido is not a large building, and the statues sit close enough that you can study individual chisel work. At the center is the Amida Nyorai, 142 centimeters tall, both hands raised before the chest in the seppo-in, the mudra of preaching. Look at the right hand: most of the fingers have broken away over eight centuries of fire and upheaval, leaving the index and middle fingers. The damage is part of the statue's history, and the temple has never disguised it.

To the viewer's left stands the Fudo Myoo triad. The central figure, 137.2 centimeters tall, grips a sword in the right hand and a lasso in the left, both raised to the same height, an unusual and energetic pose. Its eyes are inlaid crystal, a technique called gyokugan that gives the glare a wet, living quality. The two attendants could not be more different from each other. Kongara Doji, 74.4 centimeters, has the soft, obedient face of a well-behaved child. Seitaka Doji, 83.5 centimeters, scowls, mouth turned down, weight shifting as if about to stomp off. Unkei carved personality into figures barely waist-high.

On the right stands Bishamonten, the armored guardian of the north, at 148.2 centimeters the tallest of the five. He plants his feet on two writhing demons and stares at a fixed point with crystal eyes. More than one visitor has remarked that he resembles a young eastern warrior of the kind Unkei would have met in Tokimasa's circle.

Photography is prohibited inside the Omido and the adjacent treasure house, so plan to spend your time looking rather than framing shots. The treasure house holds the four inscribed tablets, a seated Jizo Bosatsu associated with the memorial services for Hojo Masako, and the only known portrait sculpture of Tokimasa himself.

The Temple Grounds and Surrounding Area

The present temple occupies a fraction of the original compound. The Azuma Kagami describes construction continuing under three generations of Hojo regents, Tokimasa, Yoshitoki, and Yasutoki, who built halls, pagodas, and a Pure Land-style garden with a large pond against the backdrop of Mt. Moriyama. Excavations in the twentieth century confirmed the chronicle's account, locating the foundations of the south pagoda and other lost buildings, and the area was designated a National Historic Site as the Ganjojuin Site in 1973. Most of the medieval complex burned in 1491 during the campaign of Ise Shinkuro, later known as Hojo Soun, against the Horigoe shogunal deputy. The statues were among the few things saved.

Within the grounds you will find the grave of Hojo Tokimasa, who died here in 1215 at the age of 78, and that of Ashikaga Chachamaru, the young Horigoe deputy who perished in the 1491 attack. A sacred nagi tree near the halls is linked by legend to the courtship of Yoritomo and Masako, and the temple sells charms for good matches made from its leaves. The thatched main hall standing today dates from 1789.

Getting there is straightforward. Ganjojuin is about a 15-minute walk from either Nirayama or Izu-Nagaoka Station on the Izuhakone Railway, roughly 40 minutes south of Mishima, itself a stop on the Tokaido Shinkansen. Drivers will find it on Route 136 midway between Mishima and Shuzenji, with free parking at the gate. The neighborhood rewards a half-day visit: the Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces, a UNESCO World Heritage industrial site, are about 20 minutes away on foot or a short drive, and Hirugashima Park preserves the spot where the exiled Yoritomo is said to have lived. The hot spring town of Izu-Nagaoka lies just across the area for an overnight stay.