Tuesday 15 April 2008

Day 6 Part 3 - Kamakura (鎌倉) Kotokuin (高徳院) (The Great Buddha)

From Hasedera, out next stop along the "Great Buddha" recommended tour course (by the Kamakura Omotenashi Project) is Kotokuin (高徳院) - the temple containing the huge 13.35m bronze statue of the Buddha.

Along the way, I saw a cute Winnie the Pooh tricycle parked right outside the Hasedera:

Continuing on the bear motif, here is the Teddy Bear Petit Hotel:


And this appears to be Chinese restaurant (the characters translate to Penglai Palace):

After a brief walk along the street, we finally reached Kotokuin - this is map of the temple grounds:

We passed through the Niou gate (仁王門) containing the two Deva King statues on each side:

We encountered some Japanese school girls on a school trip - the teacher is the one holding the flag:

People admiring the Great Buddha:

These is a closeup of one of the four bronze lotus leaf sculptures around the statue:


Here are the images of the Great Buddha from various angles. The bronze statue was originally gold plated, and you can still see bits of gold plating on the statue:




And these pictures are me standing in front of it:



The back of the statue features windows!


Yes it's true - the statue is hollow and it is possible to climb inside it:

View inside the statue:


This is the Kangetsu Hall - supposedly part of the Imperial Palace in Korea in the 15th century and then moved here - it contains a standing image of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva (Kannon Bosatsu):

This tablet contains a waka (31 syllable Japanese poem that reads  「かまくらやみほとけなれど釈迦牟尼は美男におわす夏木立かな」. It's by Yosano Akiko (与謝野晶子) and translates to:
Here in Kamakura
the sublime Buddha is of another world,
but how like a handsome man he seems
adorned with the green of summer.

Some stone lanterns around here:


And a group of women that look like air stewardesses:

Outside the Kotokuin is a shop selling Hello Kitty souvenirs:


And what appears to be "Happy & Lucky" dolls:

There's also a canal running through here:

And on our way to our next destination we encountered a workman repairing some overhead cables:

This is one of several road tunnels - this one runs underneath Sasuke - everywhere we went seem to be bumping into schoolgirls today:

Cute doll in a window:

Mozart restaurant:

1 comment: