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Hyaku-Shaku Kannon (100 feet Avalokitesvara)
The sculpture was created for the memorial service for the martyrs who died of disease and illness in the World War II and for the traffic victims, and it took six years from 1960 to 1966 to complete the sculpture on the site of the former quarry. It is revered as the main deity that protects the safety of navigation, aviation, and land transportation.
Mount Nokogiri (鋸山, Nokogiri-yama) literally "saw mountain" is a low mountain on the Bōsō Peninsula on Honshu, Japan. It lies on the southern border of the city of Futtsu and the town Kyonan in Awa District in Chiba Prefecture.
The mountain runs east to west, having the characteristic sawtoothed profile of a Japanese saw (鋸, nokogiri). It falls steeply into Tokyo Bay on its western side, where it is pierced by two road tunnels and a rail tunnel, carrying the Uchibo Line south from Futtsu to Tateyama. Both features are due in part to the mountain's history as a stone quarry in the Edo period, the marks of which are still picturesquely evident.
The western side of the mountain is also the site of the sprawling Nihon-ji temple complex, which is the home of two Daibutsu sculptures - a huge seated carving of Yakushi Nyorai that at 31.05 metres (101.9 ft) tall is the largest pre-modern, stone-carved Daibutsu in Japan, and the "Hundred-shaku Kannon", a tall relief image of Kannon carved into one of the quarry walls - as well as 1500 hand-carved arhat sculptures, which combined with the spectacular scenery of the Bōsō Hills and Tokyo Bay, make Mount Nokogiri a popular tourism destination.
The temple is accessible by road and by a cable car, the Nokogiriyama Ropeway, which runs from Hamakanaya Station on the JR Uchibo Line to a lookout deck near the top of the temple precinct.
The western end of the mountain falls precipitously into Tokyo Bay, where Cape Myōgane (Japanese: 明鐘岬) is a good place to watch large ships pass through Uraga Channel at sunset.
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The eight islands of Japan sprang into existence through Divine Intervention.The first two gods who came into existence were Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto, the Exalted Male and Exalted Female. It was their job to make the land for people to live on.They went to the bridge between heaven and earth and, using a jewel-encrusted halberd, Izanagi and Izanami churned up the sea into a frothy foam. As salty drips of water fell from the tip of the halberd the first island was formed. Its name was Onogoro.So far, so good. But when Izanagi and Izanami first met on their island, Izanami spoke to Isanagi without being spoken to first. Since she was the female, and this was improper, their first union created badly-formed offspring who were sent off into the sea in boats.The next time they met, Izanagi was sure to speak first, ensuring the proper rules were followed, and this time they produced eight children, which became the islands of Japan.I'm sure you did not fail to miss the significance of this myth for the establishment of Japanese formal society.At present, Japan is the financial capital of Asia. It has the second largest economy in the world and the largest metropolitan area (Tokyo.)Technically there are three thousand islands making up the Japanese archipelago. Izanagi and Izanami must have been busy little devils with their jewelled halberd...Japan's culture is highly technical and organized. Everything sparkles and swooshes on silent, miniaturized mechanisms.They're a world leader in robotics, and the Japanese have the longest life-expectancy on earth.Text by Steve Smith.
