yoseki-zukuri 寄木造

Also read yosegi zukuri. Formerly called kiyose zukuri 木寄造 or yoseai zukuri 寄合造. Antomym of *ichiboku zukuri 一本造.
A technique used to make the main part of a wooden statue out of two or more pieces of wood. The advantages of this technique are: (1) It provides an efficient use of sometimes scarce materials. (2) Inside of the statue can be hollowed easily and efficiently from the joints (see *uchiguri 内刳). (3) Each piece of wood can be carved by different sculptors, facilitating mass production. There are five basic ways to combine blocks of wood *kiyosehō 木寄法. Techniques such as *warihagi 割矧, *warikubi 割首, and *gyokugan 玉眼 are often used for the statues that employ the yoseki-zukuri technique. Examples of this technique date from as early as the 7th century, such as, the Bosatsu hanka shiyuizō 菩薩半跏思惟像 at Chūgūji 中宮寺 in Nara. However the development of yoseki-zukuri started in the late 10th century, and the sculptor Jōchō 定朝 (?-1057; see *Jōchōyō 定朝様) made extensive and sophisticated use of this technique up to the 11th century. The Amida Nyoraizō 阿弥陀如来像 (1053) at Byōdōin *Hōōdō 平等院鳳凰堂 in Kyoto, is his representative work. The main part of this statue was made out of four long pieces of wood, each of which formed a quarter of the head and body, and they were joined together at the neck axis. The blocks at the back had been divided at the nape and were joined together warikubi after the inside of the head was sufficiently hollowed. Since the late 11th century, as greater numbers of temples and Buddhist statues began to be made, this technique was frequently adopted, especially when large-scale statues were made in Kyoto and other developed regions. In less developed provinces, however, large-scale statues were often made by ichiboku zukuri, even in the 11th and 12th century. Life-size or smaller statues had been made by either yoseki zukuri, ichiboku zukuri, or warihagi irrespective of where they were made. Gradually, however, yoseki zukuri became the prevailing method in any size.