Autumn Leaves at the Ushiku Daibutsu Statue

Autumn is here and the red leaves viewing season has started! Japanese love nothing more than the changing of the seasons so they take their autumn tree viewing almost as seriously as with the cherry blossom viewings in the spring. There are even companies organizing commercial bus tours to the best places to see the nature of Japan in its autumn glory! I took these photos at the great Ushiku Daibutsu statue in Ibaraki Prefecture last year.

Ushiku Daibutsu – The Big Buddha of Ibaraki

The Daibutsu (Big Buddha) of Ushiku City in Ibaraki to the north of Tokyo is the tallest buddha statue in Japan. The statue itself is 100m and stand it is placed on is 20m, for a total of 120m! It doesn’t look so large from the ground for some reason, but from the air it looks absolutely massive. It is also tall enough to be visible from the Sky Tree as far south as Tokyo. I did not know this but apparently every summer the statue is the focus of a fireworks festival which (looks) sounds amazing. One easy way of getting there from Tokyo is to take the train to Ushiku Station and then catch a local bus to the Daibutsu.

The Pacific Ocean at Oarai Isosaki Jinja

More photos of the coast and ocean at Oarai Isosaki Jinja in Ibaraki Prefecture to the north east of Tokyo. The torii, the shrine gate, located on top of a rock in the ocean is especially photo worthy, and very popular with photographers from all over Japan. The waterfront is reached by just walking straight down from the main shrine building, passing the huge torii just before the stairs, crossing the road and then following a small path down to the water in between two buildings. If you are ever in the neighborhood I recommend it!

Oarai Isosaki Jinja – Pacific Ocean

The great shrine of Oarai, the Isosaki Jinja start on a hill but goes all way down into the ocean, with the final piece of the shrine being the tori standing on a rock in the ocean. The torii survived the earthquake and tsunami perfectly and is as superbly photogenic as always. I googled images of it and found my own meagre snapshots amazingly lacking in doing it justice. Well, I will get more chances I hope! I love this particular piece of the coast, the Pacific Ocean is pretty powerful here and although it might now look too much on the surface the water is full of currents making swimming and surfing too hazardous to attempt. So most people come here to enjoy just looking at the ocean, or going for a swim in some of the more sheltered coves and harbors that can be found here and there. More photos to come!