Almost 1300 years ago, a monk named Tokudo Shonin found a large camphor tree in the forest nearby the Hase village from Nara, and sculpted from it two statues of the eleven-headed Kannon. One of the statues was sent to the Hasedera Temple near Nara, where it was enshrined, while the second one was… thrown into the sea. The belief was that the statue will reappear where the people will need it…

And the legend says that, 15 years later, the statue was found glowing on a beach near Kamakura. It was enshrined in a newly built temple, the today’s Hasedera Temple from Kamakura, where it can still be visited (but not photographed) inside Kannon-do, the hall from this photo…

Hasedera Temple, Kannon-do Hall, Kamakura

EXIF Info:

Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Japanese architecture, Osaka Cosmo Tower