born 1148?
died 1223
Japanese sculptor.
He established a style of realistic and dynamic Buddhist sculpture that had an immense impact on Japanese art for centuries. Commissioned by the Kamakura shogunate , he made statues for the Kōfuku and Tōdai temples in Nara and is best remembered for the nearly 26-ft (8-m) tall guardian figures at Tōdai temple's Great South Gate. He later produced many portrait sculptures.