Kamakura Daibutsu (The Great Buddha of Kamakura), statue of Amida Buddha in Kōtoku-in Temple—second tallest bronze statue in Japan
Dates visited: March 30, 2013
We made a day trip to Kamakura (31 miles southwest of Tokyo) to visit Kōtoku-in, a Buddhist temple famous for Kamakura Daibutsu (The Great Buddha of Kamakura). This serene hollow bronze statue at 44 ft tall is the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan, and just being in the presence of such a huge entity make you feel humble.
From there, we visited the beautiful Hase-dera temple (aka Hase Kannon) that houses a 30 ft wooden statue of Kannon, a bodhisattva associated with compassion or the goddess of mercy. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed of this statue made of camphor wood and gilded in gold. The temple complex was alive with sakura (cherry blossoms) and amidst this moment of celebration, it was touching to see hundreds of small Jizō statues (guardian of children), placed by parents who had lost their babies to miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion.
From Kamakura,we traveled to Kyoto in a Shinkansen (Bullet Train). We had already sent our luggage from Tokyo to Kyoto using the convenient takuhaibin delivery service. Kyoto would be our base for the next few days—seeing the peak sakura (cherry blossom) bloom and making a day trip to Nara.
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- Great Buddha of Kamakura (Kamakura Daibutsu) in Kōtoku-in temple
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- Kannon-do Hall, the main building of Hase-dera temple
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- A pretty garden on the grounds of Hase-dera temple
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- Pretty sight on the grounds of Kōtoku-in temple
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- The Great Buddha’s hands are represented in the position of Mida no Jōin (Meditation Mudra), a Japanese specific position
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- Cats keeping guard at Hase-dera temple
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- Daikokuten—god of wealth or kitchen… …holding a golden mallet and standing on bales of rice
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- Close-up of Great Buddha of Kamakura (Kamakura Daibutsu)
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- Slippers for the Great Buddha of Kamakura
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- Jizō (guardian of children) statues guaranteed to evoke an “Awwwwww!”
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- Buddha stautue with Kannon-do Hall, the main building of Hase-dera temple in the background
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- Awesome noodle soup at a restaurant in the Hase-dera temple grounds
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- Buddha statue at Hase-dera temple
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- Jizō statues placed by parents who have lost their babies to miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion
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- Statue of Jizō—guardian of children and patron deity of deceased children and aborted fetuses