National Treasure Hall
Statue of Hibakara
National Treasure
Hibakara wears armor like most of the other figures in the set of Eight Kinds of Mythological Beings, but unlike the others it does not have a boyish face. Instead, it has a full beard.
Hibakara is associated with a class of beings from Hindu mythology referred to as mahoraga, which are sometimes described as snakes, or musicians with snakelike attributes. In Japanese Buddhism, the name Hibakara is unique to Kofukuji and is more commonly called magoraga.
This work is dated to 734 and was made by the hollow-core dry-lacquer sculpting technique.