The Gread Buddha Daibutsu. The seated figure is the largest Buddha statue in Japan (53ft/ 16.2m high), 437 tons of bronze, 286lb/ 130kg of gold and 7 tons of wax were used in its casting. The raised right hand is in the semui-no-in position (mudra), the "promise of peace"; the left hand in the yogan-no-in position, the "fulfillment of wishes". The bronze base (circumference 68ft/ 20.7m) is in the form of a lotus flower with 56 petals.
The Original Buddha was the work of a Korean sculptor, Kuninaka-no-Kimimaro, started in 747 and completed in 752.
and it was repeatedly destroyed and reconstructed. The current hands of the statue were made in the Momoyama Period (1568-1615), and the head was made in the Edo Period (1615-1867).
