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Dec 04 2012 13 Comments

Praying to Kamakura’s Great Buddha

Kamakura’s Great Buddha (Daibutsu) is a huge draw for foreign and Japanese tourists alike; its impressive size and serene features making it worth the trek no matter how many times one has seen it.

In fact so calming is the statue that it’s almost possible to forget the crowds, and instead just enjoy the moment — not to mention its impermanence.

Kamakura Daibutsu or Great Buddha

Categorized: Photography, Religion

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Taki says

    12/4/2012 at 11:14 am

    My father has a picture of himself with the whole of the Buddha in the shot without anyone else in the picture. I think he said he went alone at around 6am in 1964 🙂

    Reply
    • Lee says

      12/4/2012 at 10:06 pm

      Very nice. I’ve seen similar photos and always envied them. There’s a similarly peaceful scene in an Ozu film too.

      Reply
  2. Hans ter Horst says

    12/4/2012 at 4:03 pm

    Great composition, the ling of sight of the monk leads me to the statue and then to the birds flocking ominously 🙂

    Reply
    • Lee says

      12/4/2012 at 10:16 pm

      Thanks a lot. Unusually for me I was very patient and waited an age for there to be nobody else in the frame. And as luck would have it, the ominous birds appeared at just the right time.

      Reply
  3. winnie says

    12/4/2012 at 6:55 pm

    Great Shot!!
    I went to visit the Great Buddha last year. The Buddha is so majestic to me!!
    The Buddha looked like thinking deeply in this picture.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      12/4/2012 at 10:17 pm

      Cheers!

      It’s the expression in particular that I find so appealing. As daft as it sounds, it seems to change depending on the shot or weather too.

      Reply
  4. Willy says

    12/4/2012 at 8:08 pm

    I always find it slightly disconcerting that Siddhartha (aka the buddha) said ‘worshiping me wont make any difference to anything’ or something like that… yet the last couple of thousand years has seen statues of him spring up in all kinds of places… even as a doorstop at one of my relative’s shop… much to the ire of the local monks… really… lumps of cement will do that to people!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      12/4/2012 at 10:20 pm

      Yes, I’ve never quite worked that one out. There again, if people stuck to that idea, there’d be no Daibutsu, so it does have benefits. The makers of elaborate doorstops must be happy too!

      Reply
      • Willy says

        12/6/2012 at 8:04 pm

        I suppose its not much different to Trekkie conventions…

        Reply
  5. Marc says

    12/5/2012 at 2:09 am

    Enjoyed Kamakura when I was last there (2002). I have an old stereocard from around 1900 or so of this statue. I will need to find that.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      12/5/2012 at 8:48 am

      I’m a huge fan of the place. Never get tired of going there. My next trip will hopefully be when there’s a bit of snow on the ground, although that might be hard to manage.

      Reply
  6. Brian says

    12/7/2012 at 6:11 pm

    Definitely making a trip here when I’m in the country next month.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      12/7/2012 at 6:48 pm

      Good idea. It’s always a great day out in Kamakura.

      Reply

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