Shukuin Buddhist Sculptor

Japanese: 宿院仏師 - しゅくいんぶっし

During the Muromachi period, this group of Buddhist sculptors lived in Shukuin in Nara, and got their name from their place of residence. Lay Buddhist sculptors appeared during the Muromachi period, and the Shukuin Buddhist sculptors were a good example of this. They started out as carpenters, or bansho, and became independent Buddhist sculptors while working as subcontractors for Buddhist sculptors. From the end of the Muromachi period to the Momoyama period, there were Genji, Gensaburo, Genshiro, Gengoro, and others, and they called themselves "Nanto Shukuin Buddhist sculptors." After 800 years since the Tenpyo period, lay Buddhist sculptors were active again, and they became Buddhist sculptors who worked for a fee, calling themselves "Buddhist sculptors," and this would later become the mainstream of Buddhist sculptors.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

室町時代，奈良の宿院に住した仏師集団で，その居所からこの名がある。室町時代に入ると俗人の仏師が現れるが，宿院の仏師はその好例で，彼らは番匠つまり大工集団から出たもので，仏師の下請け的仕事をしているうちに仏師として独立した。室町時代末から桃山期にかけて源次，源三郎，源四郎，源五郎などがあり，〈南都住宿院仏師〉と自称した。天平時代以来800年を経て，ふたたび俗人仏師が活躍するようになったわけで，彼らは〈仏師屋〉とも名乗っているように代金仕事をする仏師となり，これがその後の仏師の主流となっていく。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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