Japan Guide
Kyūshū
Usuki
After all the self-indulgence of Beppu, the small and attractive castle town of USUKI, some 40km to the south, offers a reminder of the spiritual side of life. Between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, in a little valley around 5km southwest of town, skilled craftsmen sculpted some sixty Buddha statues in the soft lava tuff. The weather has taken its toll since then, but restoration work has saved several of these beautifully serene statues, which continue their vigil unperturbed.
The stone Buddhas (daily 6.30am–6pm; ¥530) are grouped around the sides of a narrow north– south valley and divided into four clusters, of which the first and last are the most interesting. Following the path anticlockwise, the first you reach is the Hoki Second Cluster, dominated by a three-metre-tall figure of Amitabha Buddha and his two attendants, each individually expressed. The path then takes you round via the Hoki First Cluster – comprising over twenty statues – and the rather worn Sannōsan trinity of Buddhas, to the Furuzono Cluster. Here, the central Dainichi Nyorai is considered one of Japan's finest stone-carved Buddhas. While the lower body has partly rotted away, the Buddha's face, picked out with faded pigment, is still sublime.
Usuki is a stop on the JR Nippō Line, forty minutes south of Beppu by express train, with services roughly every hour; make sure you get a train which stops at Usuki. From the station you can pick up a bus to the Seki-butsu (7 daily; 20min; ¥300) or, if you're feeling energetic, you can borrow a bicycle – just ask at the JR ticket window. It takes about thirty minutes to cycle out to the Buddhas, though much of the route is along a busy main road. A taxi from the station will cost in the region of ¥1400. Staff at the station hand out basic sketch maps.