Taito

Daibutsu translates to Great Buddha and indeed, in 1631, an impressive 6-meter bronze Buddha was sitting on the hill of Ueno Park.. Although the first statue was protected under a roofed structure, the force of events overcame the building and then the Great Buddha. There was a fire (1841), the earthquakes (1640, 1647, 1855) and despite all the restorations and the reconstruction on a smaller scale, it was the terrible Kanto earthquake of 1923, of magnitude 7.9 and where more than 100,000 people died, that made the reconstruction work impossible. In addition, for military needs, a large part of the material was melted down, as required by an imperial order, for the manufacture of munitions. Only the face was saved.

For several years, the renowned Buddha left the scene. It was not until 1967 that a beautiful Buddhist pagoda was built on the small mound in the park where the Buddha originally stood. In 1972, community efforts made it possible to recover the portion of the Great Buddha and expose it on the original hill of Ueno Park where it was sitting. The face of Buddha with its engraved moustache on this very small site, is full of history.

It is said that this large Buddha is worshiped to promote academic success.

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