Location Ishikawa Archaeological Foundation

Kiyomizu Temple Site Artifact: Wooden Monk Figure

The Kiyomizu Temple Site is a mountain temple located on a hill in the eastern part of Komatsu City, and has existed for about 500 years since the late 9th century. A small wooden figure of a seated monk was found in an 11th-century geological formation. This wooden figure is carved from a single cypress tree and measures 8.3 cm in height and 4.3 cm in width.
To create the figure, the face and neck have been carved, and the hair, urna (whorl of white hair on the forehead of the Buddha) and stole worn by it have been carefully drawn on in ink.
It has its hands clasped and placed inside the robe that it was wearing, like a figure of a god, thus is thought to represent a Buddhist deity from the syncretistic fusion of Shintoism and Buddhism that spread during the Heian Period.
A wooden board painting (9.5 cm in diameter) depicting the head of the Buddha in ink was also unearthed from a nearby well. These artifacts attract attention as relics that demonstrate the beliefs of Buddhists who were active in mountain temples.

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