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 ...
in
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. The statue stands at 25 meters/82 feet tall and weighs nearly 2,000 tons. It depicts the East Asian
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...
(a being that foregoes their nirvana in order to stay on Earth and help people) known as
Guanyin
Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...
or
Kannon. Specifically, the
Byakue (White-robed) Kannon, one of 33 forms of the
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
deity, said to prevent natural disasters, cure the sick, and assist women in childbirth. Ōfuna Kannon Temple (大船観音寺) is a Buddhist temple of the
Sōtō school of Zen located in
Ōfuna, northern Kamakura. Visitors heading to Kamakura will notice the most prominent feature of the
Kannon-ji once their train approaches Ōfuna Station: the 25-metre tall snow-white statue of the
bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, known in Japan as Kannon (観音), the Goddess of Mercy.
History
Construction of the Temple began in 1929 by the
Sōtō school of
Zen
Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...
. The outline of the statue was complete by 1934 but work was suspended at the outbreak of the
Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...
. The Ofuna Kannon Society continued construction work in 1954 and the Temple was finally completed in 1960. The statue construction is that of sections of poured concrete and was performed entirely by hand. No concrete pump trucks were used. The surface of the statue is oft painted white. The statue itself contains a small museum and shrine and both are open for viewing.
The Kannon incorporates stones from ground zero of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to commemorate those who died in the explosions of the atomic bombs. A fire originating from the atomic fires of Hiroshima burns in a mushroom-formed statue.
This is from the documentation provided at the statue site:
Accessibility
Ōfuna Kannon is close to the
Ōfuna Station and costs 300 yen to enter.
See also
*
List of tallest statues
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofuna Kannon
Buddhist temples in Kamakura, Kanagawa
Concrete Buddha statues
Concrete sculptures in Japan
Colossal Buddha statues in Japan
Temples of Avalokiteśvara