Busshi

A busshi {{Nihongo|2=仏師}} is a Japanese term for Buddhist artists who specialized in painting or sculpting images for Buddhist temples, predominantly in the Nara period.{{Cite book |last=Louis-Frédéric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC |title=Japan Encyclopedia |date=2002 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-01753-5 |pages=95 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Graham |first=Patricia J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W44BEAAAQBAJ |title=Faith and Power in Japanese Buddhist Art, 1600–2005 |date=2007-09-30 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-6246-6 |pages=252 |language=en}} Painters were specifically known as {{Nihongo3||絵仏師|e-busshi}}, whereas sculptors who worked with wood were called ki-busshi.{{Cite journal |last1=Iwao |first1=Seiichi |last2=Sakamato |first2=Tarō |last3=Hōgetsu |first3=Keigo |last4=Yoshikawa |first4=Itsuji |last5=Akiyama |first5=Terukazu |last6=Iyanaga |first6=Shôkichi |last7=Matsubara |first7=Hideichi |last8=Kanazawa |first8=Shizue |date=1978 |title=9. E-busshi |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/dhjap_0000-0000_1978_dic_4_1_877_t2_0124_0000_5 |journal=Dictionnaire Historique du Japon |language=fr |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=124–125}} Busshi were organized into both categories of task and grade of mastery: {{Nihongo3|master|惣仏師|sō-busshi}} {{Nihongo3|major|大仏師|dai-busshi}}, {{Nihongo3|assistant|権仏師|gon-busshi}}, {{Nihongo3|supervisor|頭仏師|tō-busshi}}, and {{Nihongo3|apprentice|小仏師|shō-busshi}}.{{Cite web |last=日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ),世界大百科事典内言及 |title=小仏師(しょうぶっし)とは？ 意味や使い方 |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%B0%8F%E4%BB%8F%E5%B8%AB-1340265 |access-date=2023-08-23 |website=コトバンク |language=ja}} These rank designations continued in use until the Heian period.