Also Tōdaiji Zōbussho 東大寺造仏所. A workshop which made statues for Tōdaiji 東大寺 in Nara. In 748, the government set up a temporary bureau zōjishi 造寺司 to oversee the building of Tōdaiji, and the sculpture workshop *zōbussho 造仏所 operated under the supervision of this bureau. The zōbussho was responsible for the production of wood, dry-lacquer, clay statues, and temple accessories. Bronze statues, including the Great Buddha *Daibutsu 大仏, were made in a separate metal-casting workshop, chūsho 鋳所. Zō Tōdaiji Zōbussho developed from Konkōmyōji 金光明寺 zōbussho (742-8), which was the largest and longest working zōbussho of the Nara period, active from 748-89. In the years 762-63, period documents report that 1619 sculptors *busshi 仏師, worked there. The workshop had two directors bettō 別当: one was charged with administrative responsibility; and the other with technical supervision. Each bettō had a deputy: the administrative deputy was called shōryō 将領; and technical deputy chōjō 長上. Under them worked the skilled sculptors zakkōn 雑工, errand boys jichō 仕丁, and laborers kobu 雇夫. Zō Tōdaiji Zōbussho held a powerful position in 8th-century Japanese statuary, and outstanding examples of late-Nara period works are preserved in Tōdaiji. These include the dry lacquer *Shitennō 四天王 and *Kongō rikishi 金剛力士, the painted clay Nikkō Gakkō 日光・月光, *Bonten 梵天 and *Taishakuten 帝釈天 in the *Hokkedō 法華堂 (Sangatsudō 三月堂). When work on Tōdaiji statues was finished, the government employed Tōdaiji Zōbussho sculptors to make statues for other temples, including Ishiyamadera 石山寺 in Shiga Prefecture, Saidaiji 西大寺 and Tōshōdaiji 唐招堤寺 in Nara, and Tōji 東寺 and Saiji 西寺 in Kyoto. Because of a shortage of sculptors, the zōbussho employed independent sculptors satobito 里人 to supplement the work of permanent employees shikō 司工. With the closure of Zō Tōdaiji Zōbussho the system of government-run sculpture workshops zōbussho came to an end. Most Tōdaiji sculptors went to work for temples in Nara, such as Yakushiji 薬師寺 and Shin'yakushiji 新薬師寺, or set up private workshops.