1 1 The stone Buddhas of Daihisan are carved right out of the rock face. Originally painted in bright colors, they must have been truly spectacular to behold. 2 Inside the Shiramizu Amidado Hall are five Buddha statues, including one of the Buddha Amida at center.3 Traces of the original paint remain on the depiction of the thousand-armed Kannon at Daihisan.4 The Kannondo shelters the thou-sand-armed Kannon. 5 Beech and oak trees fill the Kido River gorge with fresh greenery in spring and bright swathes of color each autumn.6 Lit up at night, the tunnel of cherry trees in bloom in the Yonomori district of Tomioka cre-ates a fantastical scene.7 Shiramizu Amidado Hall, a National Treasure of Japan, is remarkable for the unadorned refinement of its architecture.2 3 54 67 Who could have carved these massive Buddhas in such a remote mountain region, and why? As if their size alone isn’t impressive enough, the stone Buddhas of Daihisan in Minamisoma are believed to have been carved more than a thousand years ago, in Heian times (794–1185). Of the three groupings of statues found here—the Yakushido, the Amidado, and the Kannondo—those that have withstood the effects of time best are the four seated deities found at the Yakushido site. They fill a space 15 meters across and 5.5 meters high.“The statues were made when Buddhist teach-ings had only just arrived in this region of Japan,” says Tsutomu Kawata, a city official in charge of Minamisoma’s cultural properties. “In terms of scale, they could not have been the work of any one person, so there must have been the backing of someone with great political or financial power. The high quality of the carvings suggests that sculptors from China were involved. We do know that they were originally painted in red, yellow, and black against a bright red back-ground,” he explains.The vivid colors and immense size of the carvings must have made this a place of worship as stunning and elaborate as any Western cathedral. Two standing bodhisattvas—holy figures who delay their entry into nirvana in order to help others along the way—flank the four seated Buddhas in the Yakushido group. There are two additional line engravings of bodhisattvas here, as well. The composition of the figures is thought to be based on some kind of scripture, but exactly what it means remains unknown. What comes across clearly, however, is the strong will behind the desire to spread Buddhist beliefs through these imposing works in stone. A carving of the thousand-armed bodhisattva Kannon can be viewed in the Kannondo exhibit at Daihisan. Though it is not as well preserved as the others, it is thought to have been created around the same time. This figure rises seven meters high and, ©Tomioka Tourist Association30A Natural World of Countless Deities and Infinite ColorsWhispers of the Heart
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