Keywords
Art History
Sculpture
A dais *daiza 台座 for a Buddhist image that is shaped like a sand bar suhama 洲浜. It is a variation of the *iwaza 岩座 base, but it has a much smoother organic form with a flat top and softly undulating sides. The suhamaza was used from the 8th to 9th century in Japan for images of monks and heavenly beings *ten 天. The most famous examples are the dry lacquer images of The Eight Classes of Devas *hachibushū 八部衆 and The Ten Disciples of the Buddha *jūdai deshi 十大弟子 at Kōfukuji 興福寺 in Nara dating from the 8th century.