Zenpa　善派

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

A school of Buddhist sculptors *bussho 仏所, who often used the character 'Zen' 善 in their names. The group was active in the early-mid Kamakura period, mainly in the Nara area. Important members of the school were Zen'en 善円 (dates unknown), Zenkei 善慶 (1197-1258) and his son Zenshun 善春 (dates unknown). Much of their work was related to Nara's Saidaiji 西大寺, where the Zenpa had close links with the priest Eizon 叡尊 (1201- 90) who issued many commissions. Good examples are the painted wooden Aizen Myouou zazou 愛染明王坐像 (1247) by Zen'en, the Shaka Nyorai ryuuzou 釈迦如来立像 (1249) by Zenkei, and a portrait statue of Eizon, aged 80 years (1280), by Zenshun. The origins of the Zenpa school are unclear, and there are stylistic differences from Nara's other major sculpture school *Keiha 慶派. Although Zenpa artists were apprenticed according to the traditional workshop system, and the senior position *daibusshi 大仏師, was passed on by inheritance, artists showed a greater degree of individual stylistic variation than in earlier schools. Zen'en is noted for technical excellence, Zenkei for the sensitivity of his style, and Zenshun, for outstanding realistic portraiture.

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