saishiki busshi 彩色仏師

Lit. "Buddhist colorist." An artist who applies colored pigment to the nimbus or pedestal of a Buddhist statue. A saishiki busshi was part of a team of specialists that worked under the supervision of a master-sculptor *daibusshi 大仏師 in workshops *bussho 仏所, established from the mid-eleventh century. In earlier periods there was often no colorist and the work was done by the sculptor himself (see *busshi 仏師) or by a Buddhist painter *ebusshi 絵仏師.