Town of Ikata

Town Profile

Our Town: Sculptors

Mutsuhiro Nagano

Mutsuhiro Nagano was born on November 17, 1959, in Kawachi, Ikata. He currently resides in Ikoma, Nara prefecture.

When Nagano was 13, he saw a collection of photographs of works by sculptor Denchū Hirakushi (1872–1979). He was so moved that he began to dream of becoming a wood sculptor. In 1975 he enrolled in an arts school in Kōchi and began studying the basics of wood sculpting. The next year he returned to Ikata and began studying on his own, specializing in sculptures of Buddhist gods.

In 1981 he entered a scultpure of the Buddhist figure Seitaka Dōji in a prefectural exhibition. It was particularly well received.

Currently on display at the Kirara-kan, with the fury of 1,000 suns in his eyes, a pike in his hands, and trampling a demon underfoot is a figure of Bishamonten, one of the Four Devas. It is quite a sight to behold.

Representative works

• Acala "The Immovable One" (Tairyū Temple, Kōbe)
• Manjusri, bodhisattva of keen awareness (Tenten Temple, Naha)
• Sitting image of Nyōirin Kannon, bodhisattva of compassion (Mt. Narita Monastery, Kōbe)
• Sitting images of Vairocana, Amitabha, Aizen Myōō, and Kōbō-daishi (Miki Fudōin, Miki)