Awe-arousing missionary (Nichiren)

The sculptor’s graduation project at Tokyo Fine Arts School. Represented in the moment when a Buddhist monk, disengaged with the temple, sets out for street preaching.

Takamura Kotaro is also renowned as a poet. This statue was executed as his graduation work at Tokyo Fine Arts School, where his father Takamura Koun taught wood sculpture. Having been too familiar with techniques of wood carving, Kotaro was more interested in molding and later become an ardent admirer of Rodin. Represented by this work is the moment when a Buddhist monk, diengaged from the temple, sets out for street preaching. (Writer : Reiko Onodera Source : Selected Masterpieces from The University Art Museum, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music: Grand Opening Exhibition, The University Art Museum, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, 1999)