Kōkei

Tamonten

Fukūkenjaku Kannon

Gyōga

Kōkei ( Japanese 康慶 ) was a Japanese sculptor in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

life and work

Kōkei was a student of Kōchō and the father of Unkei . He and Kōkei established the new style of the Kamakura period . The first contemporary reports about Kōkei concern a work that he completed in 1153. In 1177 he was appointed Hokkyō in recognition of his work for the statues in the five-story pagoda of Rengeō-in , which he made at the request of Emperor Go-Shirakawa . Kōkeis most important works are those he made in 1180 as a replacement for the statues of Tōdai-ji and Kōfuku-ji in Nara, which were lost in fires . In 1189 he created eleven still existing statues for the southern round hall ( 南円堂 , Nan'en-dō ) of the Kōfuku-ji: a Fukūkenjaku-Kannon ( 不空羂索観音像 ), the four kings of heaven ( 四天王 , Shitennō ), including Tamonten ( 多聞天 ), and the six Hossō patriarchs ( 法相六祖 , Hossō Rokuso ), including Gyōga ( 信叡 ). In 1194 he received the honorary title of Hogen in recognition of his new statues. Two years later, in 1196, he built the huge bodhisattva companions and the four heavenly kings for the main hall (Daibutsu-den) of the Tōdai-ji, supported by his son Unkei and his students like Kaikei and Jōkaku ( 定覚 ).

These sculptures by Kōkeis exude a strong freshness and, with their new realism, brought the school into the center of the development of the time. The statues in Nan'en-do in particular are evidence of this development. Since the Fujiwara family traditionally felt associated with the Fukūkenjaku-Kannon, they insisted that the new statue resemble as closely as possible the one lost in the 1180 fire. Kōkei created his figure after studying sources, but changed it according to his strong style, where he also included ideas of the Tempyō period (729-749) and thus separated from the Heian period .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Hokkyō ( 法眼 ) and the higher level Hōgen ( 法眼 ) are two honorary titles that were originally awarded to priests, but later also to artists and scholars.

literature

Tazawa, Yutaka: Kokei . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .

personal data
SURNAME	Kōkei
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	康慶 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Japanese sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH	12th Century
DATE OF DEATH	13th Century

[A-1] Hokkyō ( 法眼 ) and the higher level Hōgen ( 法眼 ) are two honorary titles that were originally awarded to priests, but later also to artists and scholars.