shukuin busshi 宿院仏師

A guild of Buddhist sculptors active in Nara (see *nanto busshi 南都仏師) in the Muromachi period. Their workshop was called shukuin bussho 宿院仏所 or shukuin bussho-ya 宿院仏所屋, after its location in Shukuin 宿院. The shukuin busshi were originally carpenters and wood craftsmen, kiyose banshō 木寄番匠, who switched to making Buddhist images. They were one of the first groups of Buddhist sculptors *busshi 仏師, since the Tenpyō period to work as laymen, without assuming the status of monks. Important shukuin busshi included Genji 源次, Genzaburō 源三郎, Genshirō 源四郎, and Gengorō 源五郎. They made many wooden statues, often commissioned by small temples in the Nara area, for example the Shaka-zō 釈迦像 and Yakushi-zō 薬師像 in Higashida Yakushidō 東田薬師堂 (1545).