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You are about an hour's ride by rail, S. W. from Yokohama. The seaside village where this great statue sits enthroned is now a summer resort for residents of the larger towns, but seven hundred years ago there was a great city here - living and working and worshipping here. It was in those old times of mediaeval splendor (1252) that a rich prince of Japan caused this great statue to be constructed, occupying the place of honor in a fine temple fifty yards square, whose roof was upheld by lofty pillars. The rolling surges of the Pacific are only half a mile behind you and at your left. Huge tidal waves swept in here twice in old times (1369 and 1494) destroying the temple, but the heavy statue remained unhurt. Now for more than four centuries, this solemn, serene Buddha has sat here among the trees of the temple-garden without any roof over his head, calmly unmindful of rain or sun, chilly wind of warm, luxurious sunshine.

The statue was made in sections separately cast in bronze, but fitted together with great skill. As it sits there on the pedestal it is nearly fifty feet tall. The face alone is eight feet high and the eyes of solid gold are almost four feet wide. That spot on the forehead is a knob of pure silver more than a foot in diameter and weighs thirty pounds. It is a symbolic of a sixth sense, or the power of spiritual insight which the pure-minded are promised as the reward of devout living.

There is here nothing corresponding precisely to the Christian Sabbath, for the times of worship are not marked off by weeks. Prayers and offerings are made here every day in the year, but certain days of each month bring about the repetition of certain special forms of worship.

(For excellent explanations of the religious ideas of the country see Lafcadio Hearn's "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan.")

From Notes of Travel, No. 8, copyright 1904, by Underwood & Underwood.

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Majestic Calm of the Great Buddha at Kamakura, Japan. 
Calm Majestueux du Grand Bouddha à Kamakura, Japon.
majeftätifche  Ruhe des großen Buddha bei Kamakura, Japan.
Cakma Majestousa del Gran Buda en Kamakura, Japón.
Den stora Buddha's majestetiska lugn bid Kamakura, Japan.
Торжественная тишина великаго Будды въ Камакурѣ, Япоиія.

Transcription Notes:
need verification if Russian at the bottom is correctly transcribed.