The Great Buddha of Kamakura (鎌倉大仏) is located at the temple of Kōtoku-In (高徳院) in south-western (-ish) Kamakura. The temple belongs to the Jōdo-Shū (Pure Land) sect.
The Great Buddha dates from around A.D. 1252, during the period of the Hōjō regency (A.D. 1203-1333). It was preceded by a wooden buddha which burned. Cast in bronze, it has survived the washing away of the building that it was enclosed in three times (A.D. 1334, 1369, 1498), when it was finally just left in the open.
The Buddha stands 43.8 ft (13.8 m) high and weighs 267,0000 lbs (121 metric tons). A fun fact is that the Buddha's ear is 6 ft 3 in long (1.9 m).
The Buddha is hollow, and for the princely fee of 100 Yen, you too can go inside. It is a fascinating view of how it is constructed.
I am looking up here at a platform which has a window that is open. At one time you could climb up here; somewhere buried in my parents' slides are a picture of my sister and myself looking out from this window from many years ago.
The temple grounds are definitely more restrained than some other temples we went to, but did have some beautiful trees.
Boy, surviving tidal floods and earthquakes, the making of that Buddha reveals man's ingenuity TB and stubbornness. Wonder how old that last tree is?
ReplyDeleteNylon12, most of the trees there (including this one) are of more recent vintage, late 19th or early 20th century.
DeleteIt is one of the few such structures that one can see the inner construction of. It is pretty impressive, especially given that this was all effectively done by hand.
I have forgotten but did TB the Elder serve in Japan? I know of very few people who went to Japan back then except for those children of vets who served there at one time or another.
ReplyDeleteEd - TB The Elder did not serve there other than at least one docking at Yokohama during his navy days. That said, my mother's brother and the husband of my father's sister were both stationed there for a time in the mid-1970's, which is the first time that I went (with them, of course). That trip inspired a life-long love of Japan.
DeleteAncient construction techniques are particularly fascinating. We moderns tend to think we're the only ones with the technology to do amazing things, but we're not!
ReplyDeleteLeigh, the even more incredible thing to me is that they had none of the technological conveniences we have to do the work: no earth moving equipment, no cranes, no mass forges. Given the same set of circumstances, I doubt we in the modern day could do as well.
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