Gilt-bronze Pensive Buddhist Saint

[Narration]
The sculpture on the left is a reproduction of the Gilt-bronze Pensive Buddhist Saint and the sculpture on the right is a reproduction of the Wooden Pensive Buddhist Saint, which is a highly acclaimed national treasure of Japan. These statues express Buddha lost in thought about human pains and sufferings in a contemplative way. And they are considered the best Buddha statues in the world. Do they remind you of Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker? Also, the statue on the left which was made during the Three Kingdoms Period in Korea has been requested for overseas exhibitions so many times, and even Koreans have rare chance to see it in person. What do you think when you see them side by side?

[Male student]
They almost look the same. Neither of the two looks particularly splendid, but they both seemed to be very detailed. Their serene smiles make me feel happy and peaceful.

[Narration]
Yes, the statues do look very similar, don't they? It is believed that the Japanese wooden statue was crafted in Baekje and sent over to Japan. The origin of the wooden statue was confirmed purely by chance – it’s an interesting story.

A young Japanese boy fell in love with the Wooden Pensive Buddhist Saint of Japan, and one day, when nobody was looking, he gave it a big hug, only to break off the statue's finger.

[Male student]
Oh, how unfortunate to break the finger of such an important cultural asset! What happened?

[Narration]
The boy was so scared that he took the finger and ran away. In the meantime, the country was turned upside-down due to the disappearance of the finger. The boy eventually returned with the finger and confessed his accidental crime. Whilst experts were ever-so-carefully reattaching the finger to the statue, they noticed something strange. They realized that the timber the saint was carved from came from a rare species of pine, unique to the Bonghwa region of Gyeongbuk Province, Korea. Before this discovery, it had been a well-known fact that Buddhism was introduced to Japan from Baekje, but it was only by chance that this particular statue was confirmed to have originated in Baekje.

[Male student]
That really was a chance discovery!

[Narration]
Yes. The accident confirmed that Baekje played an important role in the development of Buddhist culture in Japan.