GREAT BUDDHA OF KAMAKURA
The Great Buddha of Kamakura is a monumental outdoor
bronze statue of Amida Buddha in the Kotokuin Temple in
Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture,
Japan.
It is believed that the statue was originally cast in
1252, following an idea by the priest Joko, who also collected donations to
build it. The sculptors were One-Goroemon and Tanji-Hisatomo.
The statue is approximately 13.35m tall and weighs approximately 93 tons.
The statue is hollow, and visitors can view the interior for a mere 20 Yen a
person.
The Great Buddha was originally housed in a temple, but this was washed away
by a tsunami in 1495, since then the statue has stood in the open air.
Repairs were carried out in 1960-1961, when the neck was strengthened and
measures were taken to protect it from earthquakes.
Great Buddha of Kamakura Statistics
Weight; 93 tons
Height; 13.35m
Length of Face; 2.35m
Length of Eye; 1.0m
Length of Mouth; 0.82m
Length of Ear; 1.90m
Length from knee to knee; 9.10m
Circumference of thumb; 0.85m
Great Buddha Kamakura - Picture by
Jim Mills
Kamakura Tours
Organised tours from Tokyo to
Kamakura are available. These tours also include the
Great Buddha at
Kotokuin Temple, Hase Kannon Temple,
Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and Komachi Shopping Street.
Further information and online booking are here.
(Article
based on
Wikipedia article and used under the
GNU Free Documentation License)
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