Matsumoto Myokei

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Buddhist Sculptors Gallery

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Matsumoto Myokei
(Matsumoto Myookei 松本明慶（まつもとみょうけい）



Born 1945 in Kyoto.
He started carving when he was 17, when his younger brother died at the age of four.
Learned Buddhist sculpture from Nosaki Sokei 野崎宗慶, in the tradition of the Kamakura period master carver Unkei.
His name contains one of the Chinese characters of the Kei-School, 慶.
Some critics call him "the last one of the Kei-School".

He feels that the soul of a Buddha statue is already alive in a tree and when he starts carving, his job is to set this soul free; he is "receiving" the statue in this way.

Myokei has more than 40 disciples which he trains in the same tradition in his workshop, Matsumoto Kobo 松本工房.
He always tries to make the next statue better than the one he has just finished! "The Next One! ネクストワン" is his motto.

In 1991 he received the title of "Great Buddhist Sculptor", daibusshi 大仏師, from the Jodo-Sect of the Pure Land Buddhism.



In 2006, a special museum opened in Kyoto, featuring his work.
松本明慶佛像彫刻美術館.

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Kannon with 1000 Arms 千手観音様



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慈―大仏師・松本明慶作品集
Buddhist Sculptor of Mercy and Lovingness ...
Works of Matsumoto Myokei



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Kannon Bosatsu





Jizo Bosatsu



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Teaching the carving of Buddha statues
仏のこころを彫る



©　September/October 2007, NHK

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source :　menamomi.net/miyazima



- quote - NHK Japanology
... the processes involved behind producing a large sitting Fudō Myōō (不動明王), using a form of the ancient complex sculpting-assemblage technique called yosegi zukuri (寄木造).
The head sculptor is Matsumoto Myokei (松本明慶), the only modern and active daibusshi (great buddhist sculptor) from the Kei school (慶派) which can be traced back to the founding of the great Kamakura period in Japanese art.
- source : www.youtube.com


. Fudō Myō-ō, Fudoo Myoo-Oo 不動明王 Fudo Myo-O
Acala Vidyârâja - Vidyaraja .



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Japanese LINK

松本明慶 : His Life and Work

松本明慶

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Mark Schumacher

Buddhist Sculptors Gallery


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