Usuki Stone Buddhas (臼杵石仏) 臼杵石仏
The head of the Dainichi Nyorai, detached by centuries of erosion, was put back in place in 1993.
The Usuki Sekibutsu are a group of Buddhas in high relief carved into walls of welded volcanic tuff, in the city of Usuki. The most widely accepted dating places them between the late Heian period and the early Kamakura period. The statues are grouped into four clusters, Furuzone (13 statues), Sannozan (3), Hoki I (about 23) and Hoki II (about 22), for a total of 61 sculptures. In 1995 the complex was designated a National Treasure (59 statues), a designation extended in 2017 to two additional statues. The most famous statue, the great Dainichi Nyorai of the Hoki I group, had lost its head to erosion: it was found and placed back on the body in 1993, after about a thousand years.
Oita
臼杵石仏 (Usuki Sekibutsu)
