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Temple Culture Tourism

SHANGHAI, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 1, 2024 - Statues of gods, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in a century-old temple in Shanghai, China, September 1, 2024. The popularity of Chinese 3A game "Black Myth: Wukong" has led to a boom in temple cultural tourism.

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Temple Culture Tourism

SHANGHAI, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 1, 2024 - Statues of gods, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in a century-old temple in Shanghai, China, September 1, 2024. The popularity of Chinese 3A game "Black Myth: Wukong" has led to a boom in temple cultural tourism.

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Temple Culture Tourism

SHANGHAI, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 1, 2024 - Statues of gods, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in a century-old temple in Shanghai, China, September 1, 2024. The popularity of Chinese 3A game "Black Myth: Wukong" has led to a boom in temple cultural tourism.

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Temple Culture Tourism

SHANGHAI, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 1, 2024 - Statues of gods, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in a century-old temple in Shanghai, China, September 1, 2024. The popularity of Chinese 3A game "Black Myth: Wukong" has led to a boom in temple cultural tourism.

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Afghan kids race for cultural heritage protection in mini-marathon

STORY: Afghan kids race for cultural heritage protection in mini-marathon SHOOTING TIME: June 15, 2024 DATELINE: June 17, 2024 LENGTH: 00:03:45 LOCATION: BAMIYAN, Afghanistan CATEGORY: SPORTS SHOTLIST: 1. various of the mini-marathon in Bamiyan City 2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): MOHAMMAD TAQQI TAQADOSI, Organizer of the mini-marathon 3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Dari): BAHAR ALIZADA, 10-year-old competitor in the mini-marathon 4. various of young competitors in the mini-marathon in Bamiyan City STORYLINE: Some clad in simple sandals, Afghan children from the Bamiyan Valley set off on a run in front of the UNESCO-listed giant Buddhas site, an iconic symbol of Afghanistan's rich cultural history. The event, which commenced on Saturday, was a mini-marathon organized by Afghan and Chinese archaeologists, including members from Bamyan University, Shanghai University, and Shanghai International Studies University. The marathon aimed to raise local awareness of the urgent need to protect cultural relics in this war-torn country,

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Heritage protection class held for Afghan students

STORY: Heritage protection class held for Afghan students SHOOTING TIME: June 16, 2024 DATELINE: June 17, 2024 LENGTH: 00:02:21 LOCATION: BAMIYAN, Afghanistan CATEGORY: CULTURE/EDUCATION SHOTLIST: 1. various of the outdoor class in Bamiyan City 2. SOUNDBITE (Dari): MOHAMMAD ZAID, Sixth-grader 3. various of the outdoor class in Bamiyan City STORYLINE: An outdoor class aimed at promoting cultural relics protection for Afghan primary school students kicked off Sunday in central Afghanistan's Bamiyan province. The class was organized by a six-member team consisting of Chinese archaeologists and cultural heritage experts, along with Afghan experts and officials, respectively at the giant Buddhas site and Shahr-e Gholghola, both part of the UNESCO-listed world heritage in the Bamiyan Valley. During the class, Afghan pupils were taught about the status quo of cultural relics protection in Bamiyan, practical skills needed for heritage protection, and the history of cultural exchanges between Afghanistan an

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows part of a mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows part of a mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows a lion in a mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows part of a mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- Rigzin Wangzhab, who has been guarding the Donggar and Piyang grottoes for more than 20 years, explains to a tourist as they look at the mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 26, 2023. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This aerial photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows the Piyang grottoes in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows an elephant in a mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows part of a mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows a lion in a mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows a skeleton in a mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows part of a mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows part of a mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

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CHINA-TIBET-ZANDA-CULTURAL RELICS (CN)

(230529) -- NGARI, May 29, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on May 26, 2023 shows a lion in a mural in a grotto in Zanda County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Known as the Donggar and Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals. Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

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Afghan children chase football dream despite war, poverty

STORY: Afghan children chase football dream despite war, poverty DATELINE: May 9, 2023 LENGTH: 0:02:10 LOCATION: BAMYAN, Afghanistan CATEGORY: SOCIETY SHOTLIST: 1 various of Afghan childre playing football 2 SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): AMIR HUSSAIN, Afghan boy 3 SOUNDBITE 2 (Dari): TAZAHIR, Afghan boy 4 SOUNDBITE 3 (Dari): AHMAD BEHZAD, Provincial directorate of Physical Education and Sport in Bamyan STORYLINE: Millions of kids around the world dream of becoming football legend Lionel Messi, but Afghan boy Amir Hussain is not one of them. He has never even seen a live game of the Argentinian national football team. Hussain, 14, lives in central Afghanistan's Bamyan Valley where the famous Buddhas of Bamyan stand. Although the old-fashioned TVs, which have been used for several years there, can receive sports channels, few children in the village have the chance to stay up all night watching a football match. Despite the setback, Hussain's determination remained unshakable. At a small flat ground near his

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Chinese-funded course helps protect cultural heritages in Afghanistan

STORY: Chinese-funded course helps protect cultural heritages in Afghanistan DATELINE: Feb. 26, 2023 LENGTH: 00:01:30 LOCATION: BAMYAN, Afghanistan CATEGORY: CULTURE SHOTLIST: 1. various of Bamyan Valley 2. various of students attending a Chinese-funded course in central Afghanistan's Bamyan Province 3. SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): MOHAMMAD ALI HASANYAR, Local archaeologist 4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Dari): SAIFULRAHMAN MOHAMMADI, Provincial director for Information & Culture of Bamyan Province STORYLINE: A Chinese-funded course helps increase awareness of cultural heritage conservation in central Afghanistan's Bamyan Valley. Bamyan Province is famous for many cultural heritages, particularly the two widely-known giant Buddhas of Bamyan. In 2003, the cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamyan Valley were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Mohammad Ali Hasanyar, in his 30s, is a local archaeologist. His courses are founded and guided by a group of young scholars from China. SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): MOHAMMA

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"Sento-kuyo" ceremony in Kyoto

KYOTO, Japan, Aug. 23 Kyodo - More than 1,000 candles are lit around 8,000 roughly carved stone Buddhas at Adashino Nenbutsuji, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, on Aug. 23, 2016, during the Buddhist ceremony called "Sento-kuyo" in honor of the spirits of the dead.

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Visitors watch stone Buddhas lit by bonfire

USUKI, Japan - Visitors view stone Buddha sculptures under the light of a bonfire in Usuki, Oita Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Aug. 30, 2014.

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Fukushima nun bakes over 2,600 mud Buddhas for missing

IWAKI, Japan - Koshu Hirao (back), a Buddhist nun in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, shows on Aug. 9, 2014, some of the more than 2,600 mud Buddha figures she baked in memory of persons missing in the 2011 earthquake disaster that hit northeastern Japan.

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Researchers find sutra in rubble of Bamiyan Buddhas

KABUL, Afghanistan - A file photo shows a cliff face in the Bamiyan valley in central Afghanistan that had once housed one of giant Buddhas which were destroyed by the country's former Taliban regime. A research team from International Council on Monuments and Sites has found fragments of a Buddhist sutra in the rubble of one of the Buddhas.

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UNESCO holds protest exhibit over destruction of Buddhas

PARIS, France - Koichi Matsuura, director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), makes a speech June 5 opening an art exhibition at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris organized to protest the Taliban's destruction of Buddhist monumental sculptures in Afghanistan. Standing at left is Japanese painter Ikuo Hirayama, who serves as UNESCO's goodwill ambassador.

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Taliban surprised at world reaction to demolition of Buddhas

KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban authorities are surprised by the world's reaction to their destruction of the two giant Bamyan Province Buddhas, but regretted the international community's silence during several instances of vital concern to Afghans, Taliban Foreign Minister Abdul Wakil Motawakil says March 18. ''There was a golden opportunity to help the Afghans...when 300 Afghans died of exposure (in refugee camps),'' he told a press conference. ''They did not help in these instances. But when some statues of stones were destroyed, the international community made such a hue and cry, which really astonished us.''

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Chinese scholars help protect Afghan cultural heritage

STORY: Chinese scholars help protect Afghan cultural heritage DATELINE: Dec. 4, 2022 LENGTH: 00:01:59 LOCATION: BAMYAN, Afghanistan CATEGORY: CULTURE SHOTLIST: 1. various of the football game 2. SOUNDBITE 1 (DARI): SAYED HASSAN HUSSAINI, Student of Bamyan University 3. various of the archaeological remains 4. SOUNDBITE 2 (DARI): ALI HUSSAINYAR, Local representative of Chinese scholars STORYLINE: In central Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley, near the famous Buddhas of Bamiyan, Sayed Hassan Hussaini played his first football game since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August last year. SOUNDBITE 1 (DARI): SAYED HASSAN HUSSAINI, Student of Bamyan University "The game delivers a message of peace and friendship, underpinning the fact that we are peace-loving people. And it was organized with the assistance of our Chinese friends." The Chinese scholars are from several universities in the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong-based organization Friends of Dunhuang. They chose to hold the game in front of th

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GLOBALink | Panchen Rinpoche visits Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet

STORY: Panchen Rinpoche visits Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet DATELINE: May 18, 2022 LENGTH: 0:01:05 LOCATION: LHASA, China CATEGORY: CULTURE/SOCIETY SHOTLIST: 1. Panchen Rinpoche visiting Jokhang Temple STORYLINE: Panchen Rinpoche on Wednesday visited Jokhang Temple, the most revered monastery in Lhasa, starting his activities in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region this year. Panchen Erdeni Chos-kyi rGyal-po, a leader of Tibetan Buddhism, arrived at Jokhang Temple at 5:26 a.m. Wednesday, greeted by monks lining up and holding Tibetan incense or Buddhist prayer flags. Panchen Rinpoche visited the temple, paid homage, and presented hada to the statues of Buddhas. He then led sutra chanting at the temple, praying for peace, prosperity and stability, before performing a head-touching ritual to bless the monks. Panchen Rinpoche arrived in Lhasa on May 10. During his stay in Tibet, Panchen Rinpoche will attend a series of religious and social activities. Panchen Rinpoche is one of the most infl

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U.S. sanctions on Afghanistan undermine tourism industry in Bamiyan's Band-e-Amir lakes

STORY: U.S. sanctions on Afghanistan undermine tourism industry in Bamiyan's Band-e-Amir lakes DATELINE: April 11, 2022 LENGTH: 00:02:35 LOCATION: Kabul CATEGORY: SOCIETY SHOTLIST: 1. various shots of Bamiyan Buddhas and Band-e-Amir lakes 2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): MOHAMMAD SADAT, Tourist 3. various shots of the view of Band-e-Amir lakes 4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): MOSTAFA, Visitor 5. various shots of the view of Band-e-Amir lakes 6. SOUNDBITE 3 (Pashto): MOHAMMAD NADIR, Visitor 7. various shots of the view of Band-e-Amir lakes and Bamiyan Buddhas STORYLINE: Picturesque Band-e-Amir was once a popular tourist destination in Afghanistan. Now, it was deserted due to U.S. sanctions. SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): MOHAMMAD SADAT, Tourist "The scenic Band-e-Amir is a popular tourist destination that attracted thousands of tourists every day in the past. But the U.S. sanctions on Afghanistan have ruined people's joy here. Economic problems and poverty have ruined the lives of Afghans. And without money, you can't come here for

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Poverty stalks picturesque Bamiyan province in Afghanistan

STORY: Poverty stalks picturesque Bamiyan province in Afghanistan DATELINE: March 29, 2022 LENGTH: 00:02:15 LOCATION: BAMIYAN, Afghanistan CATEGORY: SOCIETY SHOTLIST: various of Bamiyan province in AfghanistanSOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): HABIBULLAH, Bamiyan residentvarious of Bamiyan province in AfghanistanSOUNDBITE 2 (Dari): HABIBULLAH, Bamiyan residentSOUNDBITE 3 (Dari): NAJIBULLAH, Bamiyan residentSOUNDBITE 4 (Dari): MAHDI, Bamiyan residentSOUNDBITE 5 (Pashto): ABDULLAH SARHADI, Governor of Bamyiyan STORYLINE: With beautiful landscape and historical monuments including giant Buddhas, Bamiyan province in central Afghanistan was once a popular destination for tourists. Although it enjoys peaceful environment, Bamiyan is among the poorest provinces of Afghanistan. SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): HABIBULLAH, Bamiyan resident I'm a daily wager, but I can't find work every day. If I work one day, the second day will be jobless, because the poor economy has drastically reduced job opportunities. I can hardly earn 150 - 200 afgha

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BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA [US 1986] [in wheelchairs L-R] KURT RUSSELL, DENNIS DUN Date: 1986

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BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA [US 1986] VICTOR WONG [front], with [left to right] SUZEE PAI, KIM CATTRALL Date: 1986

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Researchers find sutra in rubble of Bamiyan Buddhas

KABUL, Afghanistan - A file photo shows a cliff face in the Bamiyan valley in central Afghanistan that had once housed one of giant Buddhas which were destroyed by the country's former Taliban regime. A research team from International Council on Monuments and Sites has found fragments of a Buddhist sutra in the rubble of one of the Buddhas. (Kyodo)

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Researchers find sutra in rubble of Bamiyan Buddhas

KABUL, Afghanistan - Photo released by the International Council on Monuments and Sites shows fragments of a Buddhist sutra that has been found in the rubble of one of the giant Buddhas at Bamiyan destroyed by the country's former Taliban regime. (Kyodo)

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Researchers find sutra in rubble of Bamiyan Buddhas

KABUL, Afghanistan - Photo released by the International Council on Monuments and Sites shows a fragment of a Buddhist sutra that has been found in the rubble of one of the giant Buddhas at Bamiyan destroyed by the country's former Taliban regime. Although various documents have been found inside Buddha statues in Japan, it marks the first time a sutra has been found inside an Afghan Buddha statue, a research team of the council said. (Kyodo)

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Rokumichijizo Statues,Hakone

This is 3.2m magaibotoke (the largest in Kanto region during the Kamakura Period) carved into over seven meter high pyrozene andesite rock for jizo worship during Middle Ages. Although there is only one jizo here, this is called Rokudo (Six Way) Jizo because this is one of the group of stone buddhas around Shojingaike Pond which was regarded as the crossroad of Rokudo (lit. Six Road: Buddhist terminology meaning transmigration in the six paths of life). As there is no shack-like cover over the jizo, this photo was taken after 1878.==Date:unknown, Place:Hakone, Photo:unknown, (Credit:Nagasaki University Library/Kyodo News Images) [Cabinet Number98‐27‐0]

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Lake Ashi

This photo captures the old town of Motohakone, with Mt. Komagadake viewed from Sainogahara by Lake Ashinoko. It is known that Sainogahara had many stone towers and stone Buddhas druing the Edo Period according to Tokaido Hakone Sanchu-zu (Ukiyoe; Color woodblock print of Hakone's everyday life in Edo period by Gountei Sadahide, 1863). This photo was taken after 1868 when Haibutsukishaku (anti-Buddhist movement at the beginning of the Meiji era) took place and many stones were destroyed or broken .==Date:unknown, Place:Hakone, Photo:unknown, (Credit:Nagasaki University Library/Kyodo News Images) [Cabinet Number98‐32‐0]

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Statues of Enmeijizo (giving a long-life) by Lake Ashi

This is Enmei Jizo in autumn, 1871 after Haibutsukishaku (anti-Buddhist movement at the beginning of the Meiji era). Compared with the image in catalogue #5365, the figure's halo is broken, the accompanying jizo figures on the side are gone, and the stone lanterns have been destroyed. There were many stone Buddhas and stone towers as well as this Enmei Jizo in Tokaido Hakon Sanchuzu, documented by a ukiyoe print made by Sadahide Goun during Edo era. It is reported that many were thrown into the lake.==Date:unknown, Place:Hakone, Photo:unknown, (Credit:Nagasaki University Library/Kyodo News Images) [Cabinet Number90‐45‐0]

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The thousand Kannon images in Sanjusangendo Temple

The Sanjusangendo in Higashiyama-ku of Kyoto City. The temple enshrines the thousand Kannons offered by Taira Kiyomori at the request of the ex-Emperor Goshirakawa. The thousand Buddhas (wooden statues of thousand-handed Kannon, actually 1001 statues in all) are based on the anclent theory that if a ruler creates many Buddhas, the whole nation will be promised happiness. There are 500 statues in ten rows on both sides of the principal image of the seated thousand-handed Kannon, and one in the back. The inscription in the bottom reads 10000 .==Date:unknown, Place:Kyoto, Photo:Kusakabe Kinbei, (Credit:Nagasaki University Library/Kyodo News Images) [Cabinet Number1‐24‐0]

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Visitors watch stone Buddhas lit by bonfire

USUKI, Japan - Visitors view stone Buddha sculptures under the light of a bonfire in Usuki, Oita Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Aug. 30, 2014. (Kyodo)

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Fukushima nun bakes over 2,600 mud Buddhas for missing

IWAKI, Japan - Koshu Hirao (back), a Buddhist nun in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, shows on Aug. 9, 2014, some of the more than 2,600 mud Buddha figures she baked in memory of persons missing in the 2011 earthquake disaster that hit northeastern Japan. (Kyodo)

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Statues of Enmeijizo (giving a long-life) by Lake Ashi

This is Enmei Jizo around 1867 before Haibutsukishaku (anti-Buddhist movement at the beginning of the Meiji era). Compared with the figure in catalogue #4603 taken after Haibutsukishaku, the intact halo, flanking jizo figures, and the stone lanterns are extant. According to Tokaido Hakone Sanchuzu printed in 1867 by Sadahide Gountei, there once existed many stone Buddhas and towers at Sainogahara on the shore of Lake Ashinoko.==Date:unknown, Place:Hakone, Photo:F. Beato, (Credit:Nagasaki University Library/Kyodo News Images) [Cabinet Number104‐2‐0]

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Buddhas of Bamiyan

Kosaku Maeda, an expert on Afghanistan culture and visiting professor at the Tokyo University of Arts, delivers a keynote speech at an symposium held in Tokyo in September 2017 to discuss ways to preserve the remains in the Bamiyan Valley in central Afghanistan. Maeda has led UNESCO efforts to repair the remains that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, including the two Buddhas of Bamiyan, both on the World Heritage list. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Buddhas of Bamiyan

Kosaku Maeda, an expert on Afghanistan culture and professor emeritus at Wako University, visits the remains in the Bamiyan Valley in central Afghanistan in November 2005. He has led UNESCO efforts to repair the remains that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, including the two Buddhas of Bamiyan, both on the World Heritage list. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Buddhas of Bamiyan

Photo taken in 1996 shows the taller of the two Buddhas of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan. The two monumental statues, both on the UNESCO World Heritage list, were dynamited and destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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"Sento-kuyo" ceremony in Kyoto

More than 1,000 candles are lit around 8,000 roughly carved stone Buddhas at Adashino Nenbutsuji, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, on Aug. 23, 2016, during the Buddhist ceremony called "Sento-kuyo" in honor of the spirits of the dead. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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UNESCO holds protest exhibit over destruction of Buddhas

PARIS, France - Koichi Matsuura, director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), makes a speech June 5 opening an art exhibition at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris organized to protest the Taliban's destruction of Buddhist monumental sculptures in Afghanistan. Standing at left is Japanese painter Ikuo Hirayama, who serves as UNESCO's goodwill ambassador.

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Taliban surprised at world reaction to demolition of Buddhas

KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban authorities are surprised by the world's reaction to their destruction of the two giant Bamyan Province Buddhas, but regretted the international community's silence during several instances of vital concern to Afghans, Taliban Foreign Minister Abdul Wakil Motawakil says March 18. ''There was a golden opportunity to help the Afghans...when 300 Afghans died of exposure (in refugee camps),'' he told a press conference. ''They did not help in these instances. But when some statues of stones were destroyed, the international community made such a hue and cry, which really astonished us.''