Tomizawa Cliff-Carved Buddhist Images
Main Image Seated Amida Nyorai (Tomizawa Daibutsu) Category Nyorai (Tathagata)
Impression TagsDepthStillnessWarmth
DescriptionThis group of cliff-carved Buddhist images survives at the western foot of Mt. Iwasaki in Shibata, Miyagi, with many works dating to the late Kamakura period. At its center is a 2.4-meter seated Amida Nyorai known as the Tomizawa Daibutsu, bearing an inscription dated 1306. Nearby are a rock-cut chamber with Six Jizo figures, Kokuzo Bosatsu, a Nyoirin Kannon Bosatsu popularly called the “Sleeping Kannon,” and Thirty-Three Kannon images from the Edo period. Long centuries of devotion are carved into the rock face, and the site is still affectionately cherished locally as “Daibutsu-san.”
