This seated statue of Jizo Bosatsu (Jizo Bodhisattva), which is the Honzon (principal deity) of Kencho-ji Temple, is housed in the exquisitely constructed wooden Buddhist hall. It is very rare in the Zen temples of Japan for a Jizo Bosatsu image to be the principal object of worship.
This Buddhist guadian-deity (371.5 cm high) is made by "Mokushin kanshitsu-zukuri" method (dried lacquer over wood-core) and is thought to have been made in the Muromachi period (1336-1573). With this shaping technique, the general shape of a statue is carved out of wood and finished off with a layer of wood shavings and Japanese lacquer on top of it.
Although the common principal image of Zen temples of Japan is usually Shakyamuni Buddha or Vairocana Buddha, but Kencho-ji Temple have had Jizo Bosatsu as its principal image, because this temple was built in the place of the old Jizodo hall which had stood to console the dead souls in the execution site called Jigoku-dani (hell valley). Jizo Bosatsu performs his sacred mission of relieving dead children, slain travellers and decreased persons from the underworld.
In Japan, the Buddhist images made with the use of Kansitu-zukuri (dry-lacquer techinique) were very popular during the Nara period (710-794), because the plasticity of the materials was matched the realistic style of the statues. But this technique was gradually declined as it was time-consuming and its materials (especially japanese lacquer) was scarce.
Mokushin-kanshitu statues had been produced since the early Heian period. In the Kamakura (1185-1333) and Muromachi (1336-1573) periods, with the rise of the trade between Japan and the Sung dynasty, many Chinese Zen monks including Rankei Doryu (the founder of Kencho-ji) were invited to Japan from the Sung dynasty, and Zen temples were built in Kamakura and Kyoto under the teaching of these monks. The Buddhist images in the style of Mokusin-kanshitu are said to be influenced by the modeling technique of the Sung dynasty.
This seated statue of Jizo Bosatsu is said to have been created in the Muromachi period, and is characterized by the vestment style called "Hoe Suika" in which the sleeves and hem of the robe are hung down. This Sung-Dynasty style vestment of Buddha images was popular in the Kamakura region from the Nanbokucho (Northern and Southern Dynasties) to the early Muromachi period (1336-1573).
