Overview

Towering above the surrounding buildings and trees on the lower slopes of Higashiyama mountain, this white 24-meter concrete statue of Kannon (the Bodhisattva of Mercy) was built in 1955 by a transportation company. It was intended as a memorial to the victims of World War Two, both Japanese and Allied soldiers, many of whose names are collected in card files. Within the solemn grounds is an image of a reclining Buddha figure passing into nirvana and an altar containing soil from every Allied cemetery in the Pacific theater of war.