Fukui Daibutsu

Fukui Daibutsu is a monumental statue in Fukui, Japan. It is a gilded bronze seated image of the bodhisattva Kannon, also called 聖観音菩薩, and stands at the main temple of 西山光照寺, a temple of the 天台宗. The statue is also known as Kōshō-ji and Nishiyama Kōshō-ji.

The statue is about 7m high, or about 8m when its pedestal is included. It is not an ancient survival in its present form: a stone statue originally known as 石大仏 stood on the same site, but it was damaged by the 福井空襲 and the 福井地震. The gilded bronze Fukui Daibutsu was then rebuilt in 1958.

The statue was originally established at 一乗谷 as a stone image by the 朝倉氏 during the 戦国時代. It was moved with 光照寺 to its present location in 1691, and was moved again with the temple in 慶長11年(1606年). The temple was later destroyed by fire, rebuilt, and burned again in 明治三十五年. Tradition says that the sacred image inside the statue escaped each disaster, and the present statue, hall, and storage buildings are said to have been arranged to house it.

The stone statue was reputed to contain a 聖観音像 made by 弘法大師 from sandalwood, dating to more than a thousand years ago. Local residents held the statue in deep faith, and it is said that 朝倉家隆盛, the feudal lord, was also deeply devoted to it. As wider context, monuments of this kind in Japan are usually giant Buddha statues, called daibutsu, rather than prehistoric works.

Fukui Daibutsu is a monolithic statue in Fukui, Japan. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Japanese article "福井大仏", shown in the original language.