Mokujiki Sculpture

TAEDA, Mikihiro.
Mokujiki Sculpture.
Quarto. 220pp b&w and colour plates. White cloth boards inside a colour photo illustrated slipcase. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1966.
Spine a little yellowed. 

A large catalogue studying the work of Mokujiki Gogyō (1718-1810), a Buddhist monk and sculptor active during the Edo period.

Gogyō was part of the Mokujiki sect of ascetic Buddhists who only consumed foods from mountains trees and plants, their name meaning 'he who eats trees'. 
Gogyō's work was acclaimed by Soetsu Yanagi, founder of the Mingei folk craft movement in 1920s Japan. Since then, his 'Smiling Buddha' sculptures have become widely known and loved in Japan. This book released in 1966 is photographed by Mikihisa Taeda, a master in sculpture photography.