Ōfuna Kannon


Ōfuna Kannon Temple is a Buddhist temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The outstanding feature of the temple is a, 1900-ton reinforced concrete statue of the bodhisattva Kannon.

History

Construction of the Temple began in 1929 by the Sōtō school of Zen. The outline of the statue was complete by 1934 but work was suspended at the outbreak of the Pacific War. The Ofuna Kannon Society continued construction work in 1954 and the Temple was finally completed in 1960. The statue construction is that of sections of poured concrete and was performed entirely by hand. No concrete pump trucks were used. The surface of the statue is oft painted white. The statue itself contains a small museum and shrine and both are open for viewing.
The Kannon incorporates stones from ground zero of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to commemorate those who died in the explosions of the atomic bombs. A fire originating from the atomic fires of Hiroshima burns in a mushroom-formed statue.
This is from the documentation provided at the statue site:

Accessibility

Ōfuna Kannon is close to the Ōfuna Station and costs 300 yen to enter.