Official
"Enku Buddha with Soul-Focusing on Hida and Senkoji Temples-"
- Mitsui Memorial Museum -
The Mitsui Memorial Museum's special exhibition "Enku Buddha with Souls: Centering on Hida and Senkoji Temples-" has been viewed at the Mitsui Memorial Museum in Nihonbashi. I thought it was this kind of thing to put the soul into the Buddha. There were many works with a calm expression that made me feel warm. Exhibition until March 30, 2025 (Sun). (Some works can be photographed.)
Enku trained various parts of Japan in the early Edo period, leaving a unique statue of Shinto and Buddha that leads to modern sculptures that make use of wooden skin and flea scars. He spent his later years in Hida (Gifu Prefecture) and produced many statues in Senkoji Temple and other nearby areas. Hida, which is famous as a wood-producing area against the background of the history of being called the "Takumi of Hida", was blessed with nature, and was a suitable place for Enku to practice and produce Buddha statues. A large number of Enku Buddhas with souls will be exhibited. From the Mitsui Memorial Museum website
There are about 5,000 existing Enku Buddhas.
Enku, a mountain monk in the Edo period, traveled around Aichi and Gifu to Kanto, Hokuriku, and even Hokkaido, and produced many wooden statues of Shinto and Buddha, so-called Enku Buddha, in various places. It is said that the existing number is about 5,000. Enzoku t of Shinto and Buddha in the wood "tree" and carved it in search of the shape of "tree". It is revealed by a statue of Kongo wrestler at Senkoji Temple in Hida, which is over 2 meters high, directly lowers a hatchet on a raw tree that still grows today. You can ask for a source.
In addition, Enku puts the meaning of Buddhist rituals on its own "shaving" trees, leaving the "shaving marks" as it is. It has been handed down as "Enku Buddha" to this day, and has become a charm of modeling that is also familiar with modern sculpture.
Enku sees the "tree gods" on trees and the statue of the gods and Buddhas "shaved" with souls can be said to be the most appropriate stage in Hida, Gifu Prefecture, which inherits the tradition of "Hida no Taku" from Nara period. From the Mitsui Memorial Museum website
7th floor of Mitsui Main Building, 2-1-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku
Opening hours: From 10:00 to 17:00 (admission until 16:30)
Closed days: Monday