or 'giant Buddha' is the Japanese term, often used informally, for large statues of Buddha. The oldest is that at Asuka-dera (609) and the best-known is that at Tōdai-ji in Nara (752). The Tōdai-ji Daibutsu is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the seven Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara and a National Treasure.
Examples Image Name Buddha Size Date Municipality Prefecture Comments 1984 Aomori Aomori Prefecture Hiraizumi Iwate Prefecture Low relief carving at Amida Nyorai including base and lotus () 1993 Ushiku Ibaraki Prefecture Japan's largest daibutsu Yakushi Nyorai 1790 Kyonan Chiba Prefecture Carved in the 1780s and 90s by Jingoro Eirei Ono and his apprentices and restored to its present form in 1969. Japan's largest pre-modern (and largest stone-carved) daibutsu. The same site is also home to another large Buddha carving, the Hyakushaku Kannon Shaka Nyorai , including base () 1776 Kamagaya Chiba Prefecture Japan's smallest daibutsu made of bronze Shaka Nyorai 1631 Taitō Tokyo Heavily damaged in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and melted down for the war effort including base 1977 Itabashi Tokyo Weighs thirty tons; at ; erected in expiation of the Great Kantō earthquake and the war Amida Nyorai 1252 Kamakura Kanagawa Prefecture Subject of the poem The Buddha at Kamakura by Rudyard Kipling; National Treasure Amida Nyorai 1981 Takaoka Toyama Prefecture At Katsuyama Fukui Prefecture Shaka Nyorai 1828 Gifu Gifu Prefecture At Shōhō-ji (正法寺) 1660s Kyoto Kyoto Prefecture Sketch of c.1691 by Engelbert Kaempfer Vairocana 752 Nara Nara Prefecture Restored several times; part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara; National Treasure Shaka Nyorai 609 Asuka Nara Prefecture Japan's oldest daibutsu and Buddhist statue, restored; Important Cultural Property 1891 Kobe Hyōgo Prefecture At ; melted down in 1944 for the war effort and since replaced ( Gautama Buddha (length) 1899 Sasaguri Fukuoka Prefecture At Nanzoin (南蔵院); contains ashes of The Buddha and two of his disciples.
There are also several in Aichi Prefecture. https://www.aichi-now.jp/en/features/detail/4/
See also Japanese Buddhism Japanese Buddhist architecture Japanese sculpture List of National Treasures of Japan (sculptures)
References
External links
Photographs and information on famous Daibutsu New York Public Library Digital Gallery, early photograph of Kamakura Daibutsu from rear New York Public Library Digital Gallery, early photograph of Hyōgo Daibutsu