Living in a land still largely covered with forest, it is not surprising that Japanese have a special reverence toward wood. We see this particularly in traditional architecture, where wood is not only chosen to reveal its best qualities, but is largely left unpainted so that its beauty improves with use and age.
Ichiboku -- carving from a single block of wood -- is thought to have developed in Japan under the instruction of the Chinese priest Jian Zhen (688-763) during the production of numerous images for the Toshodaiji Temple in Nara Prefecture. Ichiboku carving soon replaced the bronze, earthenware and lacquer that had been used to make earlier religious statues, and it became the dominant process for the manufacture of Buddhist images until the middle of the Heian Period (794-1185).
"Shaping Faith," an exhibition of ichiboku carving at the Tokyo National Museum Heisei-kan, displays the finest examples of the art form from the seventh until the 19th century, borrowed from temples around Japan. Most are of Bodhisattvas or various guardian deities who are usually trampling on some grimacing demon who dared to challenge Buddhist teachings.