八幡三神像
休ヶ岡八幡宮の本殿内には、平安時代初期（794～1185年）に遡ると考えられる3つの像があります。中央には、日本の守護神である八幡神の像があり、僧侶の衣装を着ています。日本最古の記録である8世紀初頭の古事記によれば、彼の左には3世紀に統治した神功皇后が座っています。一方、彼の右側には、神功皇后の息子である応神天皇の配偶者である仲津姫命がいます。
一木造りの像は、比較的小さなサイズで驚くほど印象的な外観を持ち、各画像の形状、彫刻、色付けは、それぞれのコントラストや変化を考慮して、慎重に施された表現をもたらします。
彫刻は国宝として登録されており、3つの神社本殿、正面の中庭の西側の脇殿、および南北の背壁を飾る神々の6つのカラフルな木の板絵（板絵神像）は重要文化財に指定されています。
Images of Hachiman
Inside the main hall of the Yasumigoka Hachimangu Shrine are three statues believed to date back to the early Heian period (794–1185). At the center is an image of Hachiman, the guardian deity of Japan and of warriors, wearing a monk’s robe. To his left sits the Empress Jingu, who ruled in the third century, according to Japan’s oldest extant chronicle, the early eighth-century Kojiki. To his right is Princess Nakatsu, a consort of Emperor Ojin, Empress Jingu’s son.
These images, each crafted from a single block of wood, are the oldest examples of Buddhist images carved from wood, as until the Heian period they had been made almost entirely from bronze. They have a surprisingly imposing appearance given their relatively small size; and the sculpting and coloring of the three images are highly expressive, each figure being made to contrast with the other two.
The sculptures are registered as National Treasures, while the three shrine halls, a sitting room on the west side of the front courtyard, and the six colorful wooden board paintings of deities that grace the back walls of the north and south side halls are listed as Important Cultural Properties.
