大仏の作り方

Build the rough structure of a Buddha statue (skeletons) using materials such as wood or bamboo.

Apply clay (shown in gray in the drawing) all over the structure. Then, carve the face as well as intricate parts of the body. When done, dry it.

When the statue becomes dry, cover the entire surface with mica powder to facilitate molding. Then, apply clay again (shown in brown in the drawing) in a thickness of 40 to 50 cm. When it's finished, dry it again.

When the clay surface has dried up, detach it from the body into several sections. Bake these detached clay portions to turn them into mold parts.

After detaching the clay off the structure, shave off the surface of the body around 5 cm. This surface trimming will create a 5-cm gap between the mold and the body, into which bronze will pour at the next step.

Mount the mold sections around the body, starting from its lowest part. To fix the mold piece positions, pile up the earth around them. Pour bronze into the gaps created between the body and the molds. It is necessary to perform mold mounting and bronze feeding for one section at a time, from the lower to the upper. The earth mount becomes higher as this process repeats. The Buddha statue at Todaiji required eight such sessions.

When the bronze becomes dry and hard, remove the earth pile and the molds. Now an almost finished statue reveals itself.

Add finishing touches to the statue. Place the hair knots onto the head, and fine-tune the details. Lastly, apply gold plating to the surface for that glorious, brilliant appearance.

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