Bathtime for Buddha

For the fifth straight year a team of cleaners from various shrines throughout Japan converged on Fukuoka to clean the local giant Buddha statue, one of the largest of Shaka Nehan -the Japanese term for Buddha- in the world.

The cleaners, which numbered over 200 people, assembled with bamboo poles with leaves on them to give the Buddha a dusting, then proceeded to wipe the statue down by climbing the eleven meeter tall and forty-one meeter long statue, which depicts Buddha laying along the ground in a resting position.

As Mainichi news reports, "After the [cleaning] ceremony, visitors clasped their hands together in prayer in front of the cleaned statue, praying for good health in the new year."

Thanks for the news, Kami.