busshi

A busshi (仏師) is a Japanese term for Buddhist artists who specialized in painting or sculpting images for Buddhist temples, predominantly in the Nara period. Painters were specifically known as e-busshi (絵仏師), whereas sculptors who worked with wood were called ki-busshi. Busshi were organized into both categories of task and grade of mastery: sō-busshi (惣仏師, master) dai-busshi (大仏師, major), gon-busshi (権仏師, assistant), tō-busshi (頭仏師, supervisor), and shō-busshi (小仏師, apprentice). These rank designations continued in use until the Heian period.