Tōno sekibutsu and the smiling Buddha 当尾の石仏（わらい仏）

The ‘laughing Buddha’ has its date, 1299, carved on a boulder by the roadside.

In the Tōno district, between Jōruri-ji and Gansen-ji, from the late Kamakura period to the Muromachi period many Buddhist figures were carved directly into the living rock, the magaibutsu: they served people on the road as a place to rest and as waymarkers. The five main ones, as the municipality of Kizugawa lists them: | sculpture | what it is | carved date | |---|---|---| | 藪の中三尊 | Amida-Kannon-Jizō triad | 1263 | | ミロクの辻 | Miroku in incised lines | 1274 | | わらい仏（阿弥陀三尊磨崖仏）| Amida triad, ‘the laughing Buddha’ | 1299 | | カラスの壺 | Amida and Jizō on the two faces of the same boulder | 1342 | | 藤谷の磨崖仏 | a nyorai | not given |

Kyoto

浄瑠璃寺

https://theanimetrip.com/luoghi/i-sekibutsu-di-tono-e-il-buddha-sorridente