Echizen Daibutsu

The Echizen Daibutsu is a large Buddha statue located at Daishizan Seidaiji Temple in Katsuyama City, Fukui Prefecture. It is also known as the “Shusse Daibutsu” (Buddha for success). The principal image was modeled after the seated statue at Longmen Fengxian Temple in the Longmen Grottoes near Luoyang, Henan Province, China, and the statue is 17.0 meters tall. The eye-opening ceremony was held in 1987. Inside the main hall, highlights include the Nine-Dragon Wall recreated from a historically significant Chinese decorative wall, as well as 1,281 stone and gold Buddha statues. Although it was originally built mainly as a tourist attraction, it became a Rinzai Zen (Myoshinji branch) temple in 2002. The admission fee was initially 3,000 yen, but it has since dropped to 500 yen. The reinforced-concrete five-story pagoda is the largest in Japan, and the grounds include the Kondo (Golden Hall), the South Great Gate, the Middle Gate, and a strolling-style Japanese garden. The garden is decorated with stones and lanterns collected from around Japan, and it remains loved by many visitors. The Dinosaur Museum is nearby, and during peak times the parking lot can be opened up to 400 cars. Access is about a 10-minute drive from Katsuyama IC on the Chubu-Jukan Expressway.