Saisho-in Temple (Doya-cho, Hirosaki City, TEL 0172-34-1123 ) will begin special exhibition of the two Nio statues that have been restored on April 10.

In October 2019, the statue of Nio was taken out for restoration and returned to Saisho-in Temple for the first time in about three and a half years. There are two statues, Agyo and Ungyo, and during the special exhibition, the two statues will be placed in the main hall instead of in the Niomon gate so that they can be seen directly.

The chief priest, Kosho Fuse, said, ``Until now, I was only able to see the two statues in the Niomon Gate, but this time it was a rare opportunity to see the whole body without removing the bird net. I would like to express my gratitude to the local people who have returned," he said.

According to Fuse, the project started when the eyes of the Nio statue fell off in the fall of 2017. "Initially, it was planned to repair only the eyes, but it turned out that the rest of the eyes were likely to fall off and the statue as a whole was about to collapse. The purpose changed to 'return to the original appearance'," he recalls.

Mr. Fuse, who launched a crowdfunding project to collect the restoration costs and went to Tokyo many times to check the restoration status, said, "I didn't think it would become such a big story because I could see it. As a result, it was found that it was made 370 years ago, and it became clear that it was made by a group of Buddhist sculptors who followed in the footsteps of Unkei, who was active in the Kamakura period."

Motoya Myochin, a Buddhist sculptor of Meikodo (Setagaya Ward, Tokyo), who received a request for restoration, said, In addition to restoring the Nio statues, we were able to reproduce the color of the lowest layer of the skin, and we are relieved that we were finally able to return them to Saisho-in Temple.”

Fuse says, "I want to protect the Nio statues, which are familiar to the people of Hirosaki and not only documented but also remembered and passed down to future generations."

Visiting hours are from 9:00 to 16:00. The admission fee is 1,000 yen for adults and 500 yen for elementary and junior high school students. Until May 5th.