Kōtoku-in

Kotoku-in in Kamakura is a Jodo-shu Buddhist temple chiefly famous for the Daibutsu, a bronze statue of the Buddha Amitabha almost 13.4 metres high. The figure was cast in 1252 and is designated a National Treasure of Japan; it sits in meditation pose with downcast eyes in the soft, almost melancholy aesthetic of the Kamakura period. The Buddha originally stood inside a wooden hall, which was destroyed several times by typhoons and finally swept away by a tsunami from the nearby Pacific in 1498; ever since the figure has sat in the open, which has shaped its iconic image. Visitors can climb into the hollow bronze interior through a small door at the back of the statue and see the eight-segment casting technique used.