The way to build it どのように作ったのか
Overview
Daibutsu was made out of about 500 tons of copper and 17 ounces of gold. To put the gold on the surface of Daibtsu, about 2.5 tons of mercury was used. 6 million people engaged in the construction. It costed around 420 billion dollars. It was a huge project only accomplished with the participation of the Imperial court.
Now, let us learn how Daibutsu was built.
The frame 原型を作る
Make frame of Daibutsu.
Make Daibutsu with caly 中型（なかご）を作る
Put clay on the frame. It is called Nakago. Nakago has the same size and appearence as the Daibutsu statue to be. Clay makes lots of layers and each of them put together tightly.
Make mold 鋳型を作る
Put “A” to make molds. Between Nakago and A, there are piece of papars or something to prevent them from sticking.
Separate the mold from Nakago 鋳型を外し、中型を削る
Separate “A” from Nakago. After that, make Nakago smaller to make room for copper.
型持（かたじ）をはめ、銅を流す
Put “A” to Nakagao. Between them, small clay pieces called “Kataji” to keep “A” and Nakagao in proper distance. And put liquid copper into the space.
これらを8回行う
Take these processes eight times to complete the construction of the statue. Make Rengeza in the same way.
After that, make their surface smooth with file.
Congratulations! 仕上げ
Put 996 pieces of Rahotsu hair on the head.(The statue we can see today had 492 and 9 pieces of them are missing.)
Make a mixture of gold and mercury and put it on the surface. Heat the surface. The mercury is vaporized and gold lefts on the surface.
Congratulations! Completed!
