The Biggest Fudo Myo-O

My favorite of all the Buddhist deities in Japan is Fudo Myo-O, and so I had a very pleasant surprise a few days ago when I stumbled upon what is believed to be the biggest wooden  Fudo Myo-O statue in the world!

The sculpture, including the base and the surrounding flames is almost 8 meters tall. Fudo himself is exactly 366 centimeters,... one for each day of the year with an extra one to take you into the next year. It was completed and installed in 2006 at the mountain temple of Rendai-Ji in southern Okayama. The statue was carved by Kyoto sculptor Araki Keiun.

In front of the altar was a big wooden hand with a cord attached to it. The cord was made of five threads in the 5 sacred colors and it was connected to 5 colored ribbons.....

..... held in the left hand of Fudo. Never seen that before....

Rendai-Ji is part of a big shrine-temple complex on Mount Yuga. The site was once an important place of pilgrimage as pilgrims heading across the channel to Konpira-San would stop here first. After the Edo Period its popularity faded, though Konpira's didnt. The temple is now number 6 on the Chugoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.