Mono-Log

Buddhist statues by Enkuu in Takayama local hall
I felt uneasy when I looked at the Buddhist statue by Enkuu (AD1632-1695) which was over the glass case for exhibition. The dynamism its shape radiates is different from a handsome Buddhist image. I felt there was an Amoy. It was so magical. But one feels Enkuu behind the Amoy. Enkuu as a good-natured old man, Enkuu who smirks nihilistic, Enkuu who has the identity that is not known and is a fear. Such Enkuus were there.

Buddhist statues by Enkuu in Seihouji temple
I opened the slide door. "Could you show me the Buddhist statues by Enkuu?" A voice returned. "You come to pray her?" I felt "Misunderstood!" in a moment. Three Buddhist statues by Enkuu are put in a Japanese storehouse in a part of a convent where no person lives now. He said that it was managed by Mrs. S. I talked with an old woman of Mrs. S while we went up a slope to the old convent. It was cold and we breathed out white. The air made me clear and refreshed. The three Buddhist statues have eleven faces all together. They were for the people who work at this village in mountains. They could not be displayed and not be appreciated originally. They were the ones which people prayed. Enkuu carved Buddhist statues along the shape of the trees. I thought it true that without throwing away a wood chip, Enkuu curved many small Buddhist images. Enkuu carved a large number of images readily for people in the villages where no Buddhist images were. The dynamism may be produced by the necessity of curving lots of images at a time.

Mysterious smile of Enkuu
A face of Enkuu image has strange smile. Something faint, the one smiling easy, smiling archaic, smiling nihilistic a little and the one making a lip warped. Everything seems to be himself for me, it’s occasional Enkuu. I think he is reprehensible because he lets us pray himself. I also long for manufacturing in such time a little. The appearance is different but a famous rocker and a best-seller author may be the same. They seem to be Enkuu in the time now. I think a famous scholar and an artist are different. They have no atmosphere of the outsider. Enkuu has anti-establishment one. It is difficult to express the atmosphere of mysterious smile by words. Design of shape sometimes excels thousands of words.

Buddhist statues by Enkuu in Senkoji temple
I heard there were sixty Buddhist statues by Enkuu in Nyuukawamura village. I went there by bus from Takayama city and walked one hour. I enjoyed a mountain trail as a byroad. But just a bit hard. Anyway, I found there was a wonderful pavilion. There were lots of Buddhist statues over the glass. A tour route is decided. Illumination is dark. Double faced Sukuna was curved detailed and has high density. A Deva also has close dignity. There was a book written in 1700's noted tales about Enkuu in the exhibit. According to the book, Enkuu made a living tree a Buddhist statue. When I went around the route, the real one that matched two- meter-high was exhibited near the exit. The tree was torn. I thought Enkuu is merciless from a present ecological viewpoint. And I realized later that it was my self-satisfaction.

In Takayama city library
I read the books written about Enkuu there. They added some knowledge on my fragmentary subjectivity and explained a background of uniqueness of the design of the Buddhist statue by Enkuu.

Enkuu, oneself
Enkuu was a wandering priest in Tendai Buddhist Denomination. It was only the way for him to walk around mountain villages that is not included in the administrative organization. One of the book says that in his mind as a model is the Tendai esoteric Buddhism priest Gyoki (AD668-749) who tried to look for new belief in the serf and put up reformed Buddhism instead of the institutionalized Buddhist organization in Tenpyo period (AD729-749). Gyoki lived in a strife-torn period of Hakuho (AD661 or 672-683) and Tenpyo. Back to the period of Enkuu. There were several aspects. Enkuu as a Reformation person. Social conditions and existence of the stable Genroku (AD1688-1704) period in Edo (AD1603-1868). I can think it was the result that he associated with the farmers in mountain villages and the woodcutters in Hida who were social outsiders not to be included in a system of Genroku period. Enkuu was not accepted by town people at last. It may be the expedient to be put in the outsiders that the shape of the Buddhist statue by Enkuu deformed extremely and the figure of the crow-billed tengu goblin like a spaceman.
A proverb says, “A man of the divine profession is an artist who believes the Grace. An artist is god-less person of the divine profession.”
The smiles seen by Buddhist statues by Enkuu appeared the one not to be put in a social big flow at last. It was Enkuu's self-mockery. He expressed by only works, not by words because he was afraid of being caught as the Reformation person. The shape seems to aim at an escape from the tradition and the institution. The shape also keeps living in our mind now strangely and makes us feel the climate of Japan which judges our life-style at a deep place. It will be the result by which he found simple beauty to look immature seemingly. Enkuu who made a living tree a Buddhist statue lets us feel the nihilism which could not overturn social conditions and simultaneously feel the earnestness to the romanticism. There are a lot of convents where Enkuu's work in the sunset exists. Can I imagine Enkuu in the sunset acknowledged desire and lived naturally as a happy ending?

Images around Enkuu
I felt tremendous designing power from the work of Enkuu. His feeling leads to the shape. While reading the books, I also understood that superior skills linked them direct. There is a faceless, beautiful, functional design in one side and artistic design in the other. I think it good there might be such balance in one person.