Kōtoku-in

Template:Nihongo is a Buddhist temple of the Jōdo-shū sect in the city of Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Its mountain name is Template:Nihongo, and its common temple name is Template:Nihongo.

The temple is renowned for Template:Nihongo, a monumental outdoor bronze statue of Amitābha, which is one of the most famous icons of Japan. It is also a designated National Treasure, and one of the twenty-two historic sites included in Kamakura's proposal for inclusion in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.

Statue

File:Kamakura Budda Daibutsu front 1885.jpg

The Great Buddha of Kamakura, cast in the 13th century

Template:Nihongo is a large bronze statue of Amitābha, located on the temple grounds. Including the base, it measures Template:Convert tall and weighs approximately Template:Convert.<ref>"An Overview of the Great Buddha" Template:Webarchive Kotoku-in Official Website. Accessed 20 September 2011.</ref> According to temple records, the statue dates from around 1252, during the Kamakura period, which it is named after.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The statue is hollow, and visitors can view the interior. Many visitors have left graffiti on the inside of the statue.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> At one time, there were thirty-two bronze lotus petals at the base of the statue, but only four remain, and they are no longer in place.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A notice at the entrance to the grounds reads, "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."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

History

File:-Buddha Sculpture- MET DP155601.jpg

Photograph from the 1870s, by Suzuki Shinichi

The current bronze statue was preceded by a giant wooden Buddha, which was completed in 1243 after ten years of continuous labor, the funds having been raised by Lady Inada no Tsubone and the Buddhist priest Jōkō of Tōtōmi. The wooden statue was damaged by a storm in 1248, and the hall containing it was destroyed, so Jōkō suggested making a new statue of bronze, and the huge amount of money necessary for this and a new hall was raised for the project.<ref name="sato7">Template:Cite book</ref> The bronze image was probably cast by Ōno Gorōemon<ref>Frédéric, Louis. Japan Encyclopedia Harvard University Press (2005). p. 755</ref> or Tanji Hisatomo,<ref>Template:Cite news Retrieved 20 September 2011.</ref> both leading casters of the time.<ref>The New Official Guide, Japan Japan Travel Bureau (1975) p. 404</ref> At one time, the statue was gilded. There are still traces of gold leaf near the statue's ears.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Accessed 20 September 2011.</ref>

The hall was destroyed by a storm in 1334, was rebuilt, was damaged by yet another storm in 1369, and was rebuilt yet again.<ref name="sato7"/> The last building housing the statue was washed away in the tsunami resulting from the Nankai earthquake of 20 September 1498, during the Muromachi period.<ref name="Tsuji_1983"> Template:Cite book</ref> Since then, the Great Buddha has stood in the open air.<ref name="Tsuji_1983" />

The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake destroyed the base the statue sits upon, but the base was repaired in 1925.<ref name="sato7"/> Repairs to the statue were carried out in 1960–61, when the neck was strengthened and measures were taken to protect it from earthquakes.<ref name="sato7"/> In early 2016, further research, restoration, and preservation work was performed on the statue.<ref>Template:Cite news Retrieved 10 November 2016.</ref>

Measurements

• Weight: Template:Convert<ref>Information about Daibutsu onsite Template:Webarchive</ref>
• Height: Template:Convert
• Length of face: Template:Convert
• Length of eye: Template:Convert
• Length of mouth: Template:Convert
• Length of ear: Template:Convert
• Length from knee to knee: Template:Convert
• Circumference of thumb: Template:Convert

• 
  Close-up with a pigeon for scale
• 
  Rear side with open windows
• 
  Interior
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  Photograph from the 1880s, by Adolfo Farsari

In arts and poetry

The statue is referred to as the "Buddha at Kamakura" in several verses that preface the initial chapters of the novel Kim by Rudyard Kipling (1901). The verses were taken from the poem of the same name the author wrote after visiting Kamakura in 1892.<ref name="margins">Rudyard Kipling, "The Buddha at Kamakura". Retrieved 20 September 2011.</ref> The poem appears in its entirety in Kipling's poetry collection The Five Nations of 1903.<ref name="margins"/>

• The Great Statue of Amida Buddha at Kamakura, Known as the Daibutsu, from the Priest's Garden. Watercolor painting by John La Farge, 1887
  The Great Statue of Amida Buddha at Kamakura, Known as the Daibutsu, from the Priest's Garden. Watercolor painting by John La Farge, 1887

Gallery

• Entrance gate
  Entrance gate
• One of the Niō in the entrance gate
  One of the Niō in the entrance gate
• File:Entrance to the Kōtoku-in, Kamakura.jpg
• "Buddha's sandals" inside the temple
  "Buddha's sandals" inside the temple
• Statues outside the temple
  Statues outside the temple
• Outside and inside views of the Great Buddha, 2023
  Outside and inside views of the Great Buddha, 2023
• Kamakura. Woodblock print by Charles W. Bartlett, 1916
  Kamakura. Woodblock print by Charles W. Bartlett, 1916

See also

• List of National Treasures of Japan (sculptures)
• Tian Tan Buddha – located in Hong Kong, world's tallest seated Buddha statue
• Tōdai-ji – temple in Nara, home to largest bronze Buddha statue in Japan
• Ushiku Daibutsu – Japan's tallest statue of a Buddha in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

External links

• Kotoku-in Homepage (in English)
• Kamakura Today website Template:Webarchive "Kotoku-in (The Great Buddha)" page
• Kamakura Trip website "Kamakura Daibutsu (Great Buddha of Kamakura)" page (in English)
• Template:Osmway