Fukui - a place where you can find a thousand buddha statues

Fukui is probably not the first place people visit when travelling in Japan. Even when you ask Japanese people about what Fukui is known for, you will be met with a long silence followed by “….hmm dinosaurs?”. Indeed, the prefecture is a home to a rare Dinosaur Museum as this was the first place in Japan where a skeleton of a carnivorous dinosaur was discovered. But I don´t really care about dinosaurs and was here to see something very different.

When travelling to the Japanese countryside (or as locals would say, “inaka”), it is always good to plan in advance, as the public transportation can be quite limited and missing one bus or train might mean waiting for an hour or walking for good 30 minutes. The first thing on my agenda when arriving in Fukui was to take a bus to a village nearby my destination. However, I wasn´t sure about whether I could use my PASMO card on the local busses. Luckily there was an information center right next to the bus station, so I naturally went in to ask about it. I did not have much time, but the lovely older ladies working at the information center were insisting on providing me with all available materials about the city and sightseeing. By the time I found out what I needed the bus was long gone. Luckily, I had a plan B ready and was able to take a train.

Arriving at the Katsuyama station I had two options – wait 40 minutes for the next bus or take a 30-minute walk. I opted for the walk, which was actually quite nice. I crossed a bridge with koinobori – a carp-shaped kites that are hung out around childrens day, stopped for a small snack at the local Lawson and passed a preschool with the cutest kids waving at me from the window. Before I knew it, I arrived at my destination.

The main reason I visided the Fukui prefecture was the Echizen Daibutsu. I saw this place on Instagram a few years back and immediately marked it as one of my bucket list places. I am not sure why this place is not more well-know as it is magnificent to the point it almost took my breath away. When I arrived, the entrance area was dead quiet and I was a little bit worried that the temple might not even be open on this day. All of the small shops in the area were closed but luckily, there was one older lady sitting in the entrance booth selling tickets.

I entered the temple area through the main gate which is is guided by two well respected deities – Fujin (the god of winds) and Raijin (the god of thunder). The sheer size of this place is mind-blowing. I think pictures can not do it justice, but maybe thats a good thing as I would like everyone to expereince the greatness in person. If I were to describe it in one word, it would be breathtaking. Maybe it was because of the cloudy weather, but the atmosphere seemed very serene and mystical.

The awe I was in ever since si walked in got only stronger as I was approaching the main temple hall. Even before walking in I could hear deep voices chanting buddhist mantras with ambient traditional japanese music in the background. Stepping inside the hall, right in front of me was the largest statue of a sitting buddha in Japan. Sitting at 17m tall it is actually even larger than the most famous statue of buddha you can find in Nara.

Completed in 1987, it is much younger than the Nara Daibutsu, but still has quite an interesting backstory. It was gifted to the temple by one of the locals - Kiyoshi Tada, who ventured out to Osaka to start his own taxi business. When the business became a huge success, he has decided to give back to the community of his home town and gifted the temple this huge statue.

However, it is not this amazing huge statue that brought me here. It is the 1,281 other small buddhist statues which are displayed all around the interior of the main hall. They say each of them is unique and you should try to find one that leaves the deepest impression in you, making it your personal buddha protector.

For almost the whole time I spent here I was alone. Making the most out of this opportunity I took a few photos and videos and also spent some time just taking in the magnificence of what was going on around me. I could not stop myself from saying “wow” a number of times out loud.

Oh by the way, the buddhist chanting and music here was prerecorded, but it really gave the whole place even more sacred atmosphere. I waked out of the main hall by the back entrance and found myself in a lovely green garden. If I had more time I would definitely explore the garden and the five story pagoda which are in the area. I took a minute to enjoy a view of the Fukui castle and a small rice field right in front of it and had to be on my way to the bus stop as there was one more place I wanted to see.

The community bus, which was more of a van with a make-shift paper box to collect the 100 yen fee, dropped me off at a small parking area. Once again I found myself that made me feel like I am just a tiny tiny human in this huge magical world. The ground outside of the path paved by rocks was covered in lush green moss and I felt as if I was about to get spirited away. I love spending time in the nature and places overflowing with green such as this one are like a medicine for my soul. And for the eyes as well, as they get to relax from the grey buildings and blue light computer screens.

The Hesenji Hakusan shrine was built during a time when Shinto and buddhism existed side by side and even though it is a shinto shrine, it served as a base for more than 1000 buddhist monks before it was burned down in the 16th century. The shrine is also an entrance to a sacred mountain Hakusan, which was an important pilgrimage point for buddhist worshippers back in the day.

One of the things that made this place feel so serene was the silence. I was almost all alone besides a small group of elderly people, but as the area was so huge, after a minute of walking I was alone again. Running on the last 2% of battery in my phone I did not use google maps and decided to wonder around the area and see where my feet would take me. I walked up a narrow road and stone stairs to find a small shrine surrounded by tall cedar trees.

On the way back I came across a small pond on the the way back down. The pond was a little bit away from the main path. I am not sure why I have decided to take this small detour, nut it just felt that there might be something interesting there. The surrounding forest was blocking the sky and the area was quite dark even though it was still not that late in the day. When researching the shrine afterwards, I found that this is a place where they say the local gods appear from time to time. Unfortunately, I did not get to see them this time.

Finally my phone battery died and there was only one thing I was not sure about - which way was the bus stop I needed to go to. Luckily there was an information center nearby so went in to ask. As I was waiting for the lovely lady to look up the bus stop location time was ticking away. I remembered this morning and decided that I was not going to miss the bus time, politely thanked her for time and ran for it. I knew the approximate location and knew that I would not make it if I were to walk there. Oh and it also started drizzling as I was getting close to the bus stop but just as the bus was turning the corner, I have reached the bus stop out of breath.

I was ready to continue my journey to the next place I would be visiting for the first time - Kanazawa!

By the way, I also tried to make a video documenting this part of my trip. I am still learning, but I hope you can find it relaxing and enjoy the shots of the wonderful Fukui sights.