Takaoka Great Buddha

photo by baggio4ever · CC BY 3.0

photo by 柑橘類 ( talk ) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Cast in bronze by Takaoka's craftsmen over 26 years: ‘the most beautiful Buddha in Japan’.

The current statue, 15.85 metres tall including the halo, is the third on the same spot: the first two, made of wood, burned down in 1821 and then in the great Takaoka fire of 1900. Rebuilt in bronze by the same craftsmen who cast the city's copperware, it was completed in 1933 after 26 years of work that began in 1907. Under the pedestal, a ring-shaped corridor displays thirteen paintings of the Buddhist hell and the surviving face of the previous statue, blackened by the 1900 fire.

Bronze statue of Amida Nyorai at Daibutsu-ji temple, in the centre of Takaoka. The project began in 1905 after the destruction of the last wooden version, and it has become the symbol of the city of copperware (高岡銅器).

ℹ️ The pedestal and the inner corridor are open 9:00–17:00, free-will offering (志納), irregular closing days. Source: Takaoka's official tourist portal.

🚉 Takaoka · 8 min walk

Sources: takaoka.or.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

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