Okinawa Peace Prayer and Memorial Hall's Buddha

Okinawa Senseki Quasi-National Park, Okinawa, Japan

About the photo:

"The Memorial Hall was opened in 1978 on the site where the Battle of Okinawa ended, Mabuni Hill. Towards the end of World War II Okinawa became the final battlefield where allied and Japanese forces faced each other in some of the most brutal fighting in the history of the war.

The site was created to mourn the loss of over 200,000 people. At the Memorial Hall, the world's largest lacquer statue of Buddha is open for viewing as well as an art museum, meditation forest, peace bell, and "War and Peace" paintings. Also on display is the "Young Boy's Statue" symbolizing the loss of numerous youths who perished during the war.

Located across the street from the hall is the Peace Prayer Park, which also has a museum. The main attraction in the park are stone blocks inscribed with the names of 237,779 individuals from Okinawa, Japan, the United States and other foreign countries who lost their lives in the Battle of Okinawa. The concept of the stone monuments is to remember those who died and to pray for them, to share lessons learned from war and to provide a place for meditation and learning. Admission to the park is free.

The Peace Memorial Museum is unique in the sense that the main exhibits are printed stories of the survivors who experienced the war. The park's creators thought that reading accounts of the victims would give visitors a better insight than physical evidence of the intensity of the war."

*From to www.okinawaindex.com/index/?ti…