Pedestal (台座)
The pedestal is the table on which to place a Buddha statue or an image sculpture. Particularly for a Buddha statue, there are many styles of pedestals used to make the Buddha holy. The following are the details of the pedestals for Buddha statues.
Types
Rengeza (padmasana, lotus base)
It has the shape of a lotus flower. It is mostly used for Nyorai and Bosatsu. There is no other example of Rengeza being used for others, except for certain Myoo such as Aizen Myoo (Ragaraja). The fine Rengeza has a flowery vine on the bottom.
Shumiza
It has the shape of Mt. Sumeru (in Buddhism - said to be the highest mountain rising in the center of the world). It is used for Nyorai.
Unza
It has the shape of stylized clouds. It is seen with the statues of Hiten (a type of angel in Buddhist culture) or Amida Nyorai (Amitabha Tathagata).
Senjiza
The pedestal has a box-like shape. It is called Senjiza, because the shape resembles the character 'Sen' (宣). It is used for Nyorai.
Mokakeza
It has the shape of the train of the seated statue flowing down to the pedestal. This Mokakeza is famous for the statues of Shakyamuni triads of Kondo (the Golden Pavilion) of the Horyu-ji Temple. It is also seen with the seated statue of Ichiji Kinrin (the principal Buddha of the "Court of the Perfected") of Iwate Chuson-ji Temple, although there aren't many examples of trains flowing down on Rengeza.
Toza
It has the arranged shape of Mokakeza. It has the shape of a circular chair. Toza is famous for its statue of Maitreya, of Chugu-ji Temple.
Iwaza
Its shape resembles rocks. It is generally used for gods of the heavens, such as Juni Shinsho (the 12 protective deities) or Myoo-zo. The well-known Iwaza is the statues of Shitenno (four guardian kings) and Bishamon-ten (Vaisravana) step on malicious ogres that stand on top of Iwaza.
Shitsushitsuza
A type of Iwaza. It has the shape of squared logs put together in a double-cross formation. Shitsushitsuza is only used for the statue of Fudo Myoo (Acala, one of the Five Wisdom Kings).
Kashoza
It has the shape of lotus leaves. It is used for the statue of Kisshoten.
Kinjuza
It's used for the elephant of the statue of Fugen bosatsu (Samantabhadra Bodhisattva), Shishi (Chinese lion) of the statue of Monju Bosatsu (Manjusri), the cow of the statue of Daiitoku Myoo (the Wisdom King of Great Awe-inspiring Power), the peacock of the statue of Kujaku Myoo (whose name means Peacock King, became a god with the power to neutralize poisons). It is decided by the statue of a noble character.
Idioms
To take away the pedestal and the halo from the Buddhist statue. An idiom. When the pedestal and the halo are taken away from the Buddhist statue, it will lose its dignity, so the idiom means to lose one's face or position. Eventually, meaning was changed to mean losing one's life.
The farewell of pedestal
An idiom. (In this case the pedestal was considered as the upper part of the human body), meaning the neck (head) is separated from the upper part of the body. To die after having the head cut off.
It is also called 'the farewell (death) on the kasa (the top part of the gravestone) table.'
(However, 'kasa' means the top part of the gravestone.)