Great Buddha Day

What Is Great Buddha Day?

Every April 9th is "Great Buddha Day" (大仏の日, Daibutsu no Hi) in Japan. On the ninth day of the fourth month of Tenpyō Shōhō 4 (752 CE) in the old lunar calendar, the eye-opening ceremony (開眼供養, kaigen kuyō) was held at Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara to consecrate the Great Buddha (Rushana Butsu, or Vairocana Buddha). This was the moment Japan's most iconic cultural monument was spiritually brought to life, in a grand ceremony said to have been attended by more than 10,000 monks.

The Great Buddha of Nara

The Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji — formally known as the Tōdai-ji Rushana Butsu Statue (東大寺盧舎那仏像) — stands about 15 meters tall; roughly 500 tons of copper are thought to have been used to make it. It was constructed on the order of Emperor Shōmu as a symbol of national unity and a prayer for the stability of the nation and the well-being of all living things. Construction began in 745 CE, and an estimated 2.6 million people in total are said to have been involved through labor or donations. The statue was cast in eight stages from the bottom up, and it was originally gilded using a gold-mercury amalgam; about 440 kilograms of gold are said to have been used.

The Eye-Opening Ceremony of 752

The kaigen kuyō of April 9, 752 was one of the grandest ceremonies in Japanese history. The Indian Buddhist priest Bodhisena traveled from India to perform the eye-opening ritual — the symbolic act of "giving sight" to the completed statue, thereby imbuing it with spiritual presence. Items used in the ceremony, including the brush used to paint in the eyes and the long cord tied to it, are preserved in the Shōsōin repository.

The Great Buddha Today

The original Great Buddha has undergone extensive repairs and partial reconstruction over its long history, including damage by fire in 1180 and again in 1567. The current head dates to the Edo period (the statue was restored and consecrated again in the Genroku era), while parts such as the lotus pedestal retain Nara-period work. Tōdai-ji and its Great Buddha are UNESCO World Heritage Sites and one of Japan's most visited cultural destinations, drawing millions of visitors annually. The temple's Great Buddha Hall (大仏殿, Daibutsuden) is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world, even though the current hall is only about three-quarters the size of the original.

Fun Facts

• The nostril pillar: A wooden pillar inside the Great Buddha Hall has a hole at its base the same size as the Great Buddha's nostril; tradition holds that squeezing through it brings good health and protection from illness.
• Counting the curls: The Great Buddha's snail-shell curls (rahotsu) were long said to number 966, but laser measurements by a University of Tokyo research group found the actual number to be 492.
• The deer of Nara: The sika deer roaming freely around Tōdai-ji and Nara Park have traditionally been regarded as sacred messengers of the gods and are designated a Natural Monument of Japan.