Antique Japanese Carved Village Buddha Enku Style

A carved wood buddha with lacquered surface in the style of Erku (1632–1695), a monk from Edo period who was famous for hand-carving Buddha statues in a primitive style. From a single wood block of what appears to be cedar, the standing buddha was carved in an unpolished manner with exposed knife strokes that effectively depicted a subtly smiling face and the folding of the cascading robes. The rustic style is full of Mingei charm being a great example of Japanese Buddhism folk art. The buddha stands on his original scalloped pedestal (part of the buddha statue), which has an unfinished lower part that was installed on altar and alcove for worship. The buddha has his right hand raised in abhaya mudra (the hand gesture of "having no fear") and his left hand in varada mudra (the hand gesture of "wishes are granted"). The face and the body of the buddha was lacquered in an earthy red while the robe in black. The statue is displayed on a tiered wood stand (not fixed) from a later period. The statue itself is 19" in height.
The buddha statue displays lots of aged patina, indicating a history of extensive use. His right hand is now lost and there are numerous old crack lines and losses throughout the piece. Buddha of such age and style was worshipped historically in rural area of Japan and were quite different from the ones in the temples for its rough and unadorned aesthetic.