Muroji Temple Golden Hall: Twelve Chinese Zodiac Deities

JAPAN, Nara, Uda; Kamakura period

These 13th century statues are listed as Important Cultural Properties. By one account, they are said to have been moved to Muroji Temple from a small hall in a nearby village. Each statue’s head and body was sculpted from a whole piece of cypress wood, with smaller pieces on the front and back added. The rock pedestals were added later. The eyes are inlaid with semi-precious stone, while the exterior is painted and once traced with patterns in gold that have faded.
Fronting the head of each figure is an image of one of the animals symbolizing the Twelve Chinese Zodiac Signs by which the figures are identified. Other identifiers are hair style or head covering. The figures stand on rocks with one foot advanced, each wearing a suit of armor that hangs down to the hems of their robes. Their posture varies from static to dynamic, some in contemplative stances, others in energetic motion with their clothes fluttering about them.