Ichiboku-zukuri

A term referring to a technique of wood carving, especially Buddhist statue carving, where the main part of a statue is carved out of a single piece of wood. However, carving an entire statue out of a single piece of wood is rare, except for special statues such as altar statues and small statues. The head, which is the center of the statue, protruding parts other than the torso, the arms of a standing statue, and the arms and knees of a seated statue are all made from separate pieces of wood, but are still called Ichimokuzukuri. Also, the back of the head and back are hollowed out (hollowed out to make a hollow) and a cover plate is placed over this, which can sometimes form the entire back. The concept of Ichimokuzukuri refers to statues made before that, mainly from the end of the Nara period to the middle of the Heian period, as opposed to Yosegizukuri, which became popular after the mid-11th century, but the technique continued to be used after that, and as it developed further it became Warihagizukuri (Ichimokushiki Yosegizukuri). It is not the case that a single piece of wood gradually developed into a marquetry statue; as early as the Asuka period, there were statues such as the Miroku Hankazo statue at Chuguji Temple that used marquetry techniques, and the process of their development is separate.

[Akio Sato]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

木彫、とくに仏像彫刻の技法を示す語で、像の主要部分を1本の木から刻み出したもの。ただし、一材から像の全体を刻み出すのは、檀像(だんぞう)のような特殊なものや小像を除いてはほとんどなく、像の中心となる頭部、胴部以外の突出部、立像では腕、座像なら腕や膝(ひざ)などは別材でも一木造という。また後頭部、背部から内刳(うちぐり)（内部を刳(く)って空洞にする）をして、これに蓋板(ふたいた)を当てるが、これが背面全体を形成する場合もある。一木造という概念は、11世紀なかば以後流行するようになった寄木造(よせぎづくり)に対して、それ以前主として奈良時代末から平安時代中期にかけて行われていた像をさすべきものだが、技法はその後も行われ、さらに発達すると割矧造(わりはぎづくり)（一木式寄木造）になる。一木造の像がしだいに発達して寄木造になったというものではなく、すでに飛鳥(あすか)時代にも中宮寺弥勒半跏像(みろくはんかぞう)のように寄木造的手法を用いたものもあり、その発達過程は別になっている。

［佐藤昭夫］

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