Photo/Illutration Dismantled parts of a statue of Hitsujishin (sheep general) are on display Aug. 4 at the Otsu City Museum of History in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. A written message found inside the statue revealed the name of the sculptor and other information. (Izuru Hishiyama)

OTSU, Shiga Prefecture--At least nine Buddhist statues long assumed to have been carved after a fire set by the warlord Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) razed Enryakuji temple here to the ground in the 16th century turn out to be far older.

Researchers discovered the provenance of the statues during the course of extensive renovation work for the Konpon-Chudo main hall of Enryakuji, a national treasure located on Mount Hieizan, which straddles the border of Otsu and Kyoto.

They are in the form of ink writings concealed inside of them that state they were carved during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333).

The project began in 2016 and is set to wind up in 2027.

The temple is the headquarters of the Tendai school of Buddhism.

The hall boasts a standing statue of Yakushi Nyorai, its principal deity, around which stand 12 statues of the Twelve Divine Generals that include Tatsushin (dragon general), Umashin (horse general) and Hitsujishin (sheep general).

In addition to the 12 sculptures, statues of Bonten and Taishakuten deities are also undergoing repairs that involve taking them apart.

Repair work has already been completed on the nine statues of the Twelve Divine Generals, with ink writing found within each.

The latest discovery showed that a priest named Eiken spearheaded a drive to raise funds to create the artworks and asked renowned Buddhist sculptor Raiben to carry out the task. The nine statues were produced between 1330 and 1332.

Konpon-Chudo burned to the ground in 1435 during a conflict between Tendai monks and Ashikaga Yoshinori (1394-1441), the sixth shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate.

It was again destroyed by fire in 1499 during a confrontation with the warlord Hosokawa Masamoto, and then a third time, in 1571, at the hands of Nobunaga’s forces.

Given that Konpon-Chudo was rebuilt in the Edo Period (1603-1867), scholars had assumed the statues were produced after Nobunaga’s attack.

The renovation work also turned up insights into the origin of the statues of the Twelve Divine Generals.

According to the ink writings and other ancient documents, they were created by Raiben based on originals placed in Konpon-Chudo before they were enshrined in Gennoji temple in Kyoto.

Later, they were moved to Enryakuji, in or around 1447, after Konpon-Chudo was rebuilt following its destruction by fire during Ashikaga Yoshinori’s rein.

The original statues were apparently lost in fire.

“It’s a valuable finding that those statues survived attacks on Enryakuji,” said a representative of the secretariat in charge of the preservation and repair project for Konpon-Chudo. “We expect more discoveries will surface when we examine the remaining five statues scheduled to be dismantled for repairs.”

The mystery of why the statues were spared from the two fires is lost to history, the representative added.

Dismantled parts of the Hitsujishin statue undergoing repair and a close-up image of the ink writing found inside it, as well as the repaired Umashin and Tatsushin statues, were displayed at a special exhibition at the Otsu City Museum of History that closed on Sept. 4.

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