is a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

of the

Jōdo-shū Jōdo-shū (浄土宗, "The Pure Land School"), is a Japanese branch of Pure Land Buddhism derived from the teachings of the Kamakura era monk Hōnen (1133–1212). The school is traditionally considered as having been established in 1175 and i ...

sect in the city of

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Its mountain name is , and its common temple name is . The temple is renowned for , a monumental outdoor bronze statue of

Amitābha Amitābha (, "Measureless" or "Limitless" Light), also known as Amituofo in Chinese language, Chinese, Amida in Japanese language, Japanese and Öpakmé in Tibetan script, Tibetan, is one of the main Buddhahood, Buddhas of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddh ...

, which is one of the most famous icons of Japan. It is also a designated

National Treasure A national treasure is a structure, artifact, object or cultural work that is officially or popularly recognized as having particular value to the nation, or representing the ideals of the nation. The term has also been applied to individuals or ...

, and one of the twenty-two historic sites included in Kamakura's proposal for inclusion in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Statue

is a large bronze statue of

, located on the temple grounds. Including the base, it measures tall and weighs approximately . According to temple records, the statue dates from around 1252, during the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

, which it is named after. The statue is hollow, and visitors can view the interior. Many visitors have left graffiti on the inside of the statue. 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. 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."

History

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. The bronze image was probably cast by Ōno Gorōemon or Tanji Hisatomo, both leading casters of the time. At one time, the statue was

gilded Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...

. There are still traces of gold leaf near the statue's ears. The hall was destroyed by a storm in 1334, was rebuilt, was damaged by yet another storm in 1369, and was rebuilt yet again. The last building housing the statue was washed away in the

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

resulting from the Nankai earthquake of 20 September 1498, during the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

. Since then, the Great Buddha has stood in the open air. The

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (, or ) was a major earthquake that struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshu at 11:58:32 JST (02:58:32 UTC) on Saturday, 1 September 1923. It had an approximate magnitude of 8.0 on the mom ...

destroyed the base the statue sits upon, but the base was repaired in 1925. Repairs to the statue were carried out in 1960–61, when the neck was strengthened and measures were taken to protect it from earthquakes. In early 2016, further research, restoration, and preservation work was performed on the statue.

Measurements

* Weight: Information about Daibutsu onsite
* Height: * Length of face: * Length of eye: * Length of mouth: * Length of ear: * Length from knee to knee: * Circumference of thumb: File:Buddha kamakura closeup.jpg, Close-up with a

pigeon Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

for scale File:Takeshi DSC 7849 (4833376057).jpg, Rear side with open windows File:Takeshi DSC 7854 (4833381163).jpg, Interior File:Farsari Daibutsu.jpg, Photograph from the 1880s, by

Adolfo Farsari Adolfo Farsari (; 11 February 1841 – 7 February 1898) was an Italian photographer based in Yokohama, Japan. His studio, the last notable foreign-owned studio in Japan, was one of the country's largest and most prolific commercial photograp ...

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 Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

(1901). The verses were taken from the poem of the same name the author wrote after visiting Kamakura in 1892.Rudyard Kipling, "The Buddha at Kamakura"
Retrieved 20 September 2011. The poem appears in its entirety in Kipling's poetry collection ''

The Five Nations ''The Five Nations'', a collection of poems by English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), was first published in late 1903, both in the United Kingdom and the U.S.A. Some of the poems were new; some had been published before (not ...

'' of 1903. File:The Great Statue of Amida Buddha at Kamakura, Known as the Daibutsu, from the Priest's Garden MET ap66.143.jpg, ''The Great Statue of Amida Buddha at Kamakura, Known as the Daibutsu, from the Priest's Garden''. Watercolor painting by

John La Farge John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics. La Farge made stained glass ...

, 1887

Gallery

File:Main Archway into Kōtoku-in, Kamakura.jpg, Entrance gate File:Nio in the Main Archway at Kōtoku-in, Kamakura.jpg, One of the

Niō are two wrathful and muscular guardians of the Buddha standing today at the entrance of many Buddhist temples in East Asian Buddhism in the form of frightening wrestler-like statues. They are dharmapala manifestations of the bodhisattva Vajra ...

in the entrance gate File:Entrance to the Kōtoku-in, Kamakura.jpg File:Buddha's slippers, Kōtoku-in.jpg, "Buddha's

sandals Sandals are an open type of shoe, consisting of a Sole (shoe), sole held to the wearer's foot by straps going over the instep and around the ankle. Sandals can also have a heel. While the distinction between sandals and other types of footwear ...

" inside the temple File:Buddhist Statues outside Kōtoku-in, Kamakura.jpg, Statues outside the temple File:Kamakura Daibutsu - 2023 Oct 5.webm, Outside and inside views of the Great Buddha, 2023 File:'Kamakura', woodblock print by Charles W. Bartlett, 1916.jpg, ''Kamakura''. Woodblock print by Charles W. Bartlett, 1916

References

External links

Kotoku-in Homepage
(in English)

"Kotoku-in (The Great Buddha)" page

"Kamakura Daibutsu (Great Buddha of Kamakura)" page (in English) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotoku-in Buddhist temples in Kamakura, Kanagawa Colossal Buddha statues in Japan National Treasures of Japan Outdoor sculptures in Japan Pure Land temples Buildings and structures completed in 1243 Religious buildings and structures completed in the 1240s 13th-century Buddhist temples Temples of Amitābha Jōdo-shū temples