Generally, scholars believe that the image was cast in Silla based on the fact that there were several anecdotal stories stating that the Japanese man who rediscovered the image had found them in the ruins of a temple in what was once Silla. Professor Woo-bang Kang has argued that the statue was made in Goguryeo, who he believes was the only state technologically capable of casting the image, and was at one point brought to the south.
Scholars typically assume that the image was created in Silla based on accounts of a Japanese person finding it in temple ruins in what is now Silla. However, Professor Woo-bang Kang suggests that the statue may have originated from Goguryeo, which he believes had the necessary technology to produce such an image.