The Buddhist statue rests his cheek on one hand and smiles gently.
 
From the decorative head ornament to the delicately flowing robe, it reminds spectators of the Bodhisattva in pensive position, a South Korean national treasure.
 
Researchers in Japan have found that there is a high likelihood that the 50-centimeter-high statue was created in Korea some one-thousand-500 years ago in the sixth or seventh century.
 
The statue had been enshrined at a small temple in Kyoto and was believed up until now to have been made during the 17th to 18th century Edo period.
 
However, researchers at the Tokyo National Museum and Osaka University have found that the pattern on the forehead and the dragon design are similar to Buddhist statues made during the sixth and seventh centuries in Korea when Buddhism was introduced to Japan from Korea.
 
The statue is also made of 90 percent copper and ten percent tin, which conforms with Buddhist statues produced during Korea's Three Kingdoms period.