The Grand Buddha of the Todaiji Temple in Nara — 東大寺大沸

Todai-ji's Daibutsu (東大寺大沸) — the massive bronze Rushana seated in the Daibutsuden at Nara — required an unusual compositional solution from a printmaker primarily trained on outdoor landscape subjects. The statue's height of approximately fifteen meters, framed by the wooden columns of the eighth-century hall, presents a confrontational vertical axis that Kotozuka would have managed through a high-horizon or low viewpoint emphasizing the figure's scale. The interior dimness contrasts with the brightness seen through the hall's open doors, a tonal opposition achievable through the careful management of ink density across blocks. Nara subjects, adjacent to Kyoto in the Kinai cultural sphere, fell within the geographic range Kotozuka occasionally explored beyond the ancient capital. This foundational impression of the composition likely predates or establishes the compositional choices refined in the companion variant.