shōbusshi 小仏師

Also written 少仏師. The term first used in the early Heian period for Buddhist sculptors working in a team, subordinate to a master sculptor *daibusshi 大仏師. As the demand for sculptures increased, workshops *bussho 仏所 were set up where up to several hundred shōbusshi served as assistants to the daibusshi. 

During the Heian period the size of commissioned works increased and complex construction methods developed, such as the jointed block technique *yoseki-zukuri 寄木造. This led to a division of labor where shōbusshi specialized in various skills, for example making metal and jeweled decorations for a statue *kazari busshi 餝仏師 or applying gold-leaf *hakushi 薄師.