A
busshi 2=仏師 is a Japanese term for Buddhist artists who specialized in painting or sculpting images for
Buddhist temple, predominantly in the
Nara period.
Painters were specifically known as , whereas sculptors who worked with wood were called
ki-busshi.
Busshi were organized into both categories of task and grade of mastery: , , , and .
These rank designations continued in use until the
Heian period.
Practices
In both the Nara and Heian periods, busshi were organized in that belonged to the imperial court, temples, and the nobility.
From the 10th century, the workshops became independent from temples and began working on commission.
The bussho workshops disappeared entirely during the
Edo period.
List of Busshi
