Gifu Great Buddha, Shōhō-ji

photo by baggio4ever · CC BY 3.0

photo by 杉山宣嗣 · CC BY-SA 4.0

13.63 metres of lacquered bamboo and clay: the largest papier-mâché Buddha in Japan.

Completed in 1832 after thirty years of work, the Buddha sits on a core of ginkgo wood wrapped in woven bamboo, covered with clay and with pasted-on sheets bearing the text of the sutras, then lacquered and gilded: this is why it is also called the ‘basket Buddha’ (籠大仏). At 13.63 metres tall, it is the largest Buddha made with this technique in Japan and is counted, in an Edo-period reckoning, among the three great Buddhas of the country, together with those of Nara and Kamakura.

Statue of the Buddha Shakyamuni in the Ōbaku Shōhō-ji, completed in 1832 with the rare technique of dry lacquer over a bamboo framework, in the neighbourhood that takes its name from the Buddha itself (Daibutsu-chō).

ℹ️ Open 9:00–17:00, all year round with no weekly closing day. Tickets 300 yen for adults, 150 yen for children.

🚉 大仏南・妙照寺前 · 2 min walk

Sources: ja.wikipedia.org · gifu-daibutsu.com

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