Oct 19, 2016 - 1 min read

Hoanji Buddhist Temple in Odawara

A modern temple with lots of statues

By Peter Sidell

Community writer

The Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy

Statues near the gate

A relief carving below one of the statues

More statues along the path

The temple garden

An ancient, weathered statue of a Buddhist saint

In the graveyard

In the graveyard

The crawling statue baby

In front of the modern worship hall

This one's learned to sit up

The gate from the street

By the worship hall

In front of the worship hall

In a residential area east of Odawara Castle, Hoanji is a Buddhist temple that mixes old and new. The worship hall and some of the numerous statues are clearly recent, but some of the graves and statues are very old, weathered and worn down over hundreds of years, suggesting that there's been a temple on this site for a very long time. Perhaps in another few hundred years, all the statues will look as old as each other.

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Peter Sidell

By Peter Sidell

Community writer

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