20523 Sato Cyozan [Gengen] (Crane [Incense box]) SATO Cyozan

Height (6.5cm)

Width (15.1 cm)

Depth (6.5cm)

He was born into a family of Buddhist sculptors in Soma.
He studied under Yamazaki Choun, and then traveled to France in 1922 to study carving under Bourdelle.
In 1936 he became a member of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts.
In his later years, he set up a studio at Myoshinji Temple in Kyoto, where he created many Buddhist sculptures and small animal sculptures.
It is famous for the statue of "Wake no Kiyomaro" (Takebashi, near the Imperial Palace) built in 1940 and the statue of "Tennin (Magokoro)" (Nihonbashi, Mitsukoshi Main Store), which took about 10 years to complete in 1960.