Nanzoin Temple

A bronze reclining Buddha 41 metres long and 11 metres high lies on a hillside in Sasaguri, weighing about 300 tonnes and finished in 1995. It is the largest bronze statue of its kind in the world, and the scale only registers when you stand at the feet and look along it.

The temple built it after sending relief supplies to Buddhist communities in Myanmar and Nepal, and receiving relics in return; the statue was made to house them. What made Nanzoin famous in Japan is a different story: the head priest is said to have won large lottery prizes more than once, and that news turned a mountain temple into a place people come to buy luck. Amulets are sold accordingly, and there is a chain running from the Buddha's hand that visitors hold to make a connection.

Behind the statue the hillside carries the Sasaguri pilgrimage, 88 small temples and shrines that copy the Shikoku circuit in miniature. Walking a section of it takes you into cedar forest and away from every other visitor.

A note on conduct, because it matters here. The temple restricted foreign visitors for a period after groups treated the grounds as a picnic site and drank on them. It is an active place of worship with a working priesthood, and the request is simply that you behave as you would in one. Bare shoulders and swimwear are specifically mentioned.

Entry is free, though the interior chamber of the statue costs a small fee. From Hakata it is about 25 minutes on the Sasaguri line to Kidonanzoin-mae, and the statue is a three-minute walk from the platform.