We can imagine the actual appearance of the Great Buddha before its loss at the end of the Heian period only through a picture in "Shigisan engi" (The Legends of Mt. Shigi) (a picture scroll possessed by Chogosonshi-ji Temple) although it was painted later during the Heian period.
当時の、平安時代末期に消失する前の大仏の様子は、後代、平安時代の作ではあるけれども、唯一『信貴山縁起』（絵巻、朝護孫子寺蔵）の絵からうかがい知ることができる。