Unkei, son of the great Nara sculptor…

Unkei, son of the great Nara sculptor Kokei and a leader among the Japanese sculptors commissioned to restore the Todaiji, the great Buddhist temple in Nara, works on this project from 1199.

The Nara school’s new style blends the naturalistic vigor derived from Nara-period antecedents with a humanistic realism, as exemplified in Unkei’s “Nio,” one of the enormous wooden guardian figures posted at the Great South Gate of the Todaiji.