Although Yanagi was given the statue of Jizo Bosatsu by Komiyama, he was obliged to work on pending tasks for half a year such as opening the Korean Folklore Art Museum etc., but after he opened the museum, he started researching mokujiki-butsu and was throughly engaged in visiting many places in the country such as Mokujiki's birthplace, Maruhata, with the cooperation of Komiyama.
柳は小宮山から地蔵菩薩像を贈られるとそれから半年の間に懸案であった朝鮮民族美術館の開館などを済ませると、小宮山らの協力を得て木喰仏の調査研究のため木喰の故郷である丸畑をはじめ日本各地を奔走することになる。