The Surprising Reason The Great Buddha Now Lives Outside
The famous statue used to have a house of its own
In the ancient city of Kamakura, Japan, a giant Buddha statue sits outside under open skies. Its bronze skin has gained a patina of age similar to that of the Statue of Liberty. The massive statue is nearly 800 years old and is considered a national treasure by the Japanese. Today, it is one of the many historical features of Kamakura, and it draws crowds every year who come to pay their respects to the image of Amitābha.
What most people don’t know is that this statue used to live inside. It had a massive temple hall dedicated to it, and it was protected from the elements. The original statue was made from wood before it was recast in bronze. Bronze is able to keep its appearance much sharper and cleaner when it is kept inside. So what happened?
A Massive Tsunami
In 1498, Christopher Columbus was exploring the northern coast of Venezuela just six years after he had made the miraculous discovery of the New World. Back in Japan, blissfully unaware of what was happening in the Western Hemisphere, the Japanese were dealing with the aftermath of a massive tsunami.
On this day in history, September 20th, 1498, a massive magnitude 8.6 tremblor rumbled off the…
