One statue, five centuries apartSourced
Its head dates to the 8th century.
Its body to the 13th.
At Akishinodera temple in Nara, the statue commonly called Gigeiten has an eighth-century dry-lacquer head fitted to a thirteenth-century carved wooden body. The combined work is a designated Japanese cultural property, though scholars differ over the figure's identification.
One figure holds
centuries of making.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source and reuse details
Gigeiten · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-01