A CARVED WOOD SCULPTURE OF A STANDING YAKUSHI NYORAI (BHAISAJYAGURU)

Enku was born into a poor family in Gifu Prefecture in the early 17th century and left home as a boy to enter a local temple affiliated with the Tendai sect. In his twenties, he learned the rudiments of carving from itinerant woodworkers and began traveling as an itinerant monk-sculptor, leaving behind thousands of rough-hewn, powerful Buddhist images, many of which he donated to local temples and the people who gave him shelter along the way.