Daibutsu (大仏) Kamakura

At Hase, we visited the Kōtoku-in Temple(高徳院) where the Daibutsu is. The temple is about 500m walk from the Hase Station of the Enoden Line. By paying just Y$20 (S$0.30), you can even go inside the Daibutsu and touch it from the inside. It's believe that luck will come to you if you touch it, so Y$20 is a small price to pay for luck! Plus you get to touch a National Treasure!

The Daibutsu used to have a house over it's head, but this was washed away by a tsunami in 1498. The sea is just 1km away from it, so you can imagine what it was like! The statue was also originally covered in gold leaves. Around the garden of Daibutsu, you can still see the stone pillar foundation of where the temple once stood. The stones now serves as seats for visitors there.


Last but not least, here's a photo showing the Daibutsu of Kamakura, vs the Tian Tan Buddha (天壇大佛) in Hong Kong. The Daibutsu has three distinct features, the hand in meditation, the eyes close with a calm smile, and an arch shoulder showing at ease. It is an inviting feature to its worshiper that radiates calm and peace. The Tian Tan Buddha(天壇大佛) in Hong Kong has one hand up, and one hand on it's leg. I'm told that the the hand that signals 'stop' means "Don't be afraid", and the open palm on the leg means "I am here, and I will accompany you". And that this is meant to tell us that we should not be afraid of death or the journey before us. But the definition in wikipedia states that "His right hand is raised, representing the removal of affliction. His left hand rests on his lap in a gesture of giving dhana." I'll leave the meaning up to your interpretation.

Ref:
Tian Tan Buddha (天壇大佛)Hong Kong