How do you hide a 120-meter high statue? I suppose one way is to hide it in the middle of nowhere. Maybe not in the middle of nowhere, but certainly well off the beaten track for the majority of tourists. Ushiku is a small town in Ibaraki prefecture that is mostly farms and golf courses. Not exactly the kind of place that is going to draw droves of tourists. But you would think in a land of Buddhas, people would at least know about the Ushiku Daibutsu, however, it appears to be the best-kept secret in Japan. I have lived here for 8 years and only heard about it a couple of months ago.
Most visitors to Japan are well aware of the Kamakura Daibutsu. Before I moved to Japan I knew about the 13 meter tall Buddha in Kanagawa Prefecture. It was one of the first places I visited that was outside of Tokyo when I made my move here. Maybe Kamakura is just better at marketing. Of course, it may have more to do with the importance of the region in Japanese history. Kamakura is the place where both Zen and Jodo Buddhism as well as the samurai came to prominence. It also doesn’t hurt that there are some excellent beaches in the prefecture as well.
I think another reason the Ushiku Daibutsu is not so well known is that it is not easy to get to. From my house, it is only about 30 km away as the crow flies. But the trains don’t exactly follow the crows. Those 30 km will take you about 2 and a half hours if you are starting in Yachiyo. If you are starting at Tokyo Station it will take you less than two hours. However, getting there is the easy part. Getting back home is a lot more painful.
After exploring the beautiful grounds for a few hours, I made my way back to the bus stop to take the bus back to Ushiku Station. There was a group of Thai tourists already at the bus stop. I could tell they had been there for some time as they were gathered around the bus timetable. To say the table was not exactly clear is a bit of an understatement. It had three columns with different days, times, and destinations and none were inspiring confidence that the bus would take us back to the station. They asked me if I knew about the bus and I pleaded ignorance. One of the lads called the bus company and we got the bad news. バスじゃない. No bus. Shit.
Mind you, this was around 3 in the afternoon. Not exactly late. If tourists can’t get to the trains easily, it is going to be tough to attract them. I opened up Google Maps and saw that there was an outlet mall only a couple of km away. Ah, a mall. That means buses and taxis. I started hoofing it to the mall. It was around half-past three by the time I got to the outlet mall. There were a few taxi and bus stands, so I was feeling pretty confident. According to one of the bus stands, there was a bus to Ushiku Station leaving at 4:30. Great. By the time 5 rolled around, not so great.
Oh, no taxis either. You have to call and the dispatcher will send a taxi. I called. Got another じゃない. Finally, a bus for Arakawaoki station, two stops north of Ushiku showed up. All in all, it took me about four hours to make it home. 30 km in four hours. I probably could have walked it in the same time. So whoever is in charge of the bus company up in Ushiku, maybe a few afternoon buses would be a good idea.
The journey may be difficult and a bit annoying, but it’s definitely worth it. Especially this time of year when the sakura are in bloom. Not only is the tallest Buddha in Japan located here, but the biggest censer as well. Another highlight is the Japanese Garden filled with koi and ducks that eagerly await the free food from the visitors. Well, the bag of koi chow will cost you ¥100, but it’s free food for the garden’s wild denizens.
If you are interested in exploring the grounds, it will cost you ¥800 to get in. Besides the giant Buddha, which you can enter and take an elevator up to a viewing platform, and the relaxing Japanese Garden, there is a cafe, gift shops, and even a petting zoo and monkey show.
Rolling Tsuchinoko 