New York Times April 6
...the most moving was also the most famous: the meditating Miroku at the Koryuji temple in Kyoto. Carved from red pine, it is, in effect, a larger version of the little bronze figure at the Japan Society. It is also a symbol of Japan itself and an embodiment of qualities often used to define Japanese-ness in art: formal simplicity and emotional serenity. To see it was to have an instant Japanese experience. I had mine.

As it turns out, though, the Koryuji sculpture isn't Japanese at all. Based on Korean prototypes, it was almost certainly carved in Korea and sent to Japan