The Big Buddha

We finally went to see it yesterday. Cody had the day off so we packed up the boys and off we went. We decided to take the toll roads and WOW it was so much faster even with us getting a little lost going to the toll road. So worth the $8.50 we spent on the toll roads. It really made the drive tollerable.

It was a beautiful drive out there. The trees were just so green and the scenery was fantastic. We ran in to very little construction on the way as well which is not the norm for Japan.

The giant buddha was not what we expected at all. It actually had kept grounds and I was expecting just a buddha in the middle of nowhere I think. We had to pay to see the buddha, but it was only $4ish a person so I didn't mind. They even had a little brosure in English so that we actually knew what we were looking at for a change so that was a little bonus for us.





The walk started off towards a couple different temples with statues of men around them. Zach and Wes were very excited to see everything and as usual Wes was trying to smell every flower in site. We walked along the path some more and saw a hillside covered in colored pinwheels. I'm not quite sure what it was for (our book didn't say), but I think it was a shrine for children that were dead. By the statues of three people were little buddha looking white statues in a meshed cage. There was also a meshed box of children's clothing and toys. In front of the statues were prayer sticks (at least I think that's what they were). There were also little recycled containers with flowers in them and a spot to put incense sticks. It was a little hard standing there though because I could just picture one of those pinwheels being for one of my boys.

Woah. I was reading my booklet just now and the pinwheels are placed there by parents to entertain the spirits of their lost children by abortion. I'm a little ill now because the hill was covered in pinwheels. I'm hoping the booklet was just written by someone that meant miscarriage instead of abortion. Eww yicky feelings.

Moving on, the next stop of the path was at the Bokeyoke Kannon. "The booklet says that this statue is for older peoples who are beginning to forget things. You had better pray this Bokeyoke Kannon that you will not become senile." It also had a spot to pray at and light insense sticks. I said a silent prayer for Theresa ;-)

The boys didn't want to stay there long so they ran ran ran ahead of us to the big Buddha. The big Buddha is the largest in Japan standing at seventy feet high and weighing in at 220 tons. The one in Nara is fifty feet and the one in Kamakura is forty feet. The buddha we saw made in sections and then assembled like a giant jig saw puzzle. The temple recincts of the buddha are filled with other statues of gods.

We wandered around the outside of the buddha for a bit and I took the boys' picture next to a oversized head mini buddha. It looked almost cartoonish when we got up close to the smaller buddhas. At least I think they were buddhas, it doesn't really say.

Cody and the boys wanted to go straight to the inside of the buddha, but I wanted to look at the prayers hanging up on wooden signs directly in front of the buddha. I paid my 300 yen (it's on the honor system and you just drop it into a slot. There's also a change machine if you need change. I thought it was convient but a little odd. Kind of like having an ATM in a church you know?) and grabbed a little wooden thing to write on. I wrote mine and Cody's names, the date and a prayer for safe deployments, strength for those left behind and a quick and peaceful end to the conflict in Iraq.

Cody was getting impatient so we headed in to the big buddha. We took our shoes off at the door and put them on the little shelves. All along the left side of the buddha walls were copper sheets inscribed with the names of the people who contributed money to it being built. On the right there were pictures of heaven and hell according to Buddhism. These were in protective glass cases and were very very nice looking wall scrolls. The hallway was circular and pretty soon we came upon some stairs. We went upstairs and there were metal plates covered in Chinese character. These were for Japanese soldiers who lost their lives during the second world war. The books says "Here we pray Buddha or God to ensure their happiness after death and at the same time we also pray God for American soldiers as we do for Japanese soldiers."
We went outside and followed the path some more. The next statue is said to accept just one wish from worshippers. The statue was called Ichigan kannon. I think that means one wish for your whole life, but I'm not sure. I didn't really get too look at it for too long because the boys kept wanting to race ahead to look at stuff. I really didn't want them touching things they weren't supposed to be touching so Cody and I had to hurry after them.

Down the slope we came to an angry looking warrior statue. "He is called Fudoh Myooh and his missions in buddhism are to cut off the wordly wrong desires of the peoples and to give a helping hand to anybody who did wrong, with his sword and chain. That is to say, he is a God of mercy and love." All according to the book of course. I guess he's a tough love kind of god.

Wes raced ahead again and Cody ran after him. The next statue was Kouboudaishi the founder of Shingon sect of buddhism. According to the booklet "buddhism has many sects in Japan for example, Ze, Johdo, Tendai etc. Kouboudaishi practiced asceticism at everywhere in Shikoku Island and the 88 temples were built at his historical places where he practiced. His thought of Buddhism influenced other sects strongly too. The sacred sands of 88 temples are buried into the 88 arch of his footsteps. So Shikoku isleand is similar to Mecca because of its religious importance. The stones of footsteps are used for chanting praises. A follower will stand on each stone and chant, move to the next and next repeating the chant. It can be compared to a Catholic reciting rosary." For that reason we didn't go on the path. I felt that it was too sacred a place for people like us to just wander in to and look at. There's just some religious stuff that you can't take part in unless you're of that religion and I felt it applied to those steps.

I tried to explain to Zach it was only for the Japanese and he said "Oh and we're just people so we can't do it." I told him we were American and the steps were special to the Japanese so we couldn't go on them. He got a little confused and asked "What's 'Merican mom?" I guess I've really never had the need to explain what nationality is and all that fun stuff. I didn't know quite how to explain it and I think living in Japan might have confused him a bit. To him Japan isn't just some country on the map like it is to most people. He doesn't really remember the states when we lived there and thinks of them as the long plane ride we go on before we see Oma, Nana, the papas, etc. So I don't think that helped matters. Luckily a HUGE dragonfly came by at that moment and he forgot all about it. Hopefully I can find a way to explain to him what being 'Merican (sounds like merkin) is in regards to our family.

A little further down the path we found a little shop where we could sit and drink free traditional Japanese tea. The boys were getting tired though so we didn't sit for tea, but we did check out what the little shop was selling. I went inside and almost had a heart attack reaching for something. There was a huge grasshopper that I thought was fake and it was real. It hopped at me when I got close and startled me. Cody thought it was neat looking and so did the boys and I was laughing at myself for being startled by a grasshopper.