Visit Japan Web Great Buddha of Kamakura
Visit Japan Web invites you to explore the Great Buddha of Kamakura, a massive bronze statue of Amitabha. It is situated within the temple grounds. It stands at a height of 13.35 meters, including the base, and weighs approximately 103 tons. According to temple records, the statue dates back to around 1252, during the Kamakura period, from which it takes its name.
The statue is hollow, allowing visitors to view its interior. Many visitors have left graffiti on the inside of the statue. Once, there were thirty-two bronze lotus petals at the base of the statue, but only four remain, and they are no longer in place. A notice at the entrance to the grounds states, “Stranger, whosoever thou art and whatsoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages. This is the Temple of Buddha and the gate of the eternal, and should therefore be entered with reverence.”
The present bronze statue replaced a large wooden Buddha that was completed in 1243 after a decade of continuous labor. It was funded by Lady Inada no Tsubone and the Buddhist priest Joko of Totomi. The wooden statue was damaged by a storm in 1248, along with the hall containing it. Joko proposed creating a new bronze statue, and raised the necessary funds for this and a new hall.
The hall was rebuilt after being destroyed by storms in 1334 and 1369. However, the last structure housing the statue was washed away in the tsunami resulting from the Nankai earthquake of September 20th, 1498. Despite this, the Great Buddha has remained in the open air.
