Nihon-ji
Name: Kenkon zan Nihon-ji
Place: Nokogiriyama, Kyonan, Chiba
Admission JPY 700
Foundation: 725
School: Soto Zen (established as Hossō then transferred to Tendai sect (857) and transferred to Soto Zen (1647)
Principal Image: Yakushi Nyorai, Bhaiṣajyaguru (Bhaiṣajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja)
Founded by: Priest Gyoki
Flowers: Narcissus (January), Red spider lily (September)
Overview: Nihon-ji is a Buddhist temple in the city of Kyonan, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The temple is located on the acute slopes of Mount Nokogiri having the characteristic sawtoothed profile of a Japanese saw. The temple is considered to be the sole temple built by order of the emperor in the Nara period in Kanto area. It is famous of two Daibutsu sculptures – a huge seated carving of Yakushi Nyorai that at 31.05 metres tall is the largest pre-modern, stone-carved Daibutsu in Japan and the “Hundred-shaku Kannon (30.3m)”, a tall relief image of Kannon Bodhisattva, Goddess of Mercy, into one of the quarry walls – as well as 1500 hand-carved arhat sculptures.
Official website: http://www.nihonji.jp/index.html (Only Japanese)
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihon-ji