Successful restoration of cultural objects is very complex and needs to accomplish with highest accuracy. Non-destructive X-ray technologies provide valuable details for any step of restoration. Besides inner structures and composition of objects, even historical facts and data can be delivered.

The Buddhist sculpture consists of different types of wood that can be shown by X-ray technology on X-ray images. These different species of wood and its age in the form of annual rings is leading to a spatial density distribution. Differences in density are shown in the X-ray image due to the differences in X-ray absorption.

X-ray images show, that the Buddhist statue is, in fact, a mosaic of wood. Additionally specialist can identify the kind of restoration that has been carried out and the techniques applied. The X-ray image thus not only provides necessary information for disassembly and restoration, it also provides a valuable insight into the statue’s history.

The Buddhist sculpture “Hakuin Zenji” (1768) dates back to the Edo era and is located at the Shuin-Ji Temple in Numazu, Japan.