engineering

Ushiku Daibutsu

Ushiku Daibutsu is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ushiku Daibutsu rather than just read about it. In short: Ushiku Daibutsu (牛久大仏) is a statue located in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Completed in 1993, it stands a total of 120 metres (390 ft) tall, including the 10 m (33 ft) base and 10 m lotus platform.

Key takeaways

Ushiku Daibutsu belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ushiku Daibutsu to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ushiku Daibutsu from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Ushiku Daibutsu (牛久大仏) is a statue located in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Completed in 1993, it stands a total of 120 metres (390 ft) tall, including the 10 m (33 ft) base and 10 m lotus platform. It held the record for the tallest statue from 1993 to 2008 and as of 2023, it is the fifth-tallest statue in the world. An elevator takes visitors up 85 m (279 ft) to an observation floor. The statue depicts Amitabha Buddha and is made of bronze. It is also known as Ushiku ARCADIA (Amida's Radiance and Compassion Actually Developing and Illuminating Area). It was built to commemorate the birth of Shinran, founder of the Jōdo Shinshū 浄土真宗 or "True Pure Land School" of Buddhism.

Construction Construction was commissioned to Kawada (ja:川田工業, Kawada Kōgyō), applying curtain wall system (ja:カーテンウォール工法, Kāten uōru kōhō). First, a cast iron steel column was erected at the center supporting the weight of the entire Daibutsu. Then, a steel frame structure was arranged around it which was pre-assembled on the ground block by block in advance. The 100 m (330 ft) tall torso, or body, of the statue was divided into 20 tiers, with each tier consisting of 17 blocks on average. In addition, each component block had welded on nine bronze sheets, 1.5 by 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in by 4 ft 11 in) and around 6 millimeters thick, on a steel frame. Those steel frames connected to the main frame as branches of a tree do, forming a complicated outline. The bronze sheets are much lighter than that of the Great Buddha at Tōdai-ji temple in Nara, since the one at Ushiku applies a steel frame to support the structure. The elaborate design of each hand and arm was also assembled on the ground, then attached on the body with a huge crane.

Details Weight: 4,003 tonnes (8,825,000 lb) Length of left hand: 18 m (59 ft) Length of face: 20 m (66 ft) Length of eye: 2.55 m (8.4 ft) Length of mouth: 4.5 m (15 ft) Length of nose: 1.2 m (3.9 ft) Length of ear: 10 m (33 ft) Length of the first finger: 7 m (23 ft) Inside the statue itself is a four-storey building, which serves as a museum.

Level 1, Infinite Light and Infinite Life The first floor lobby is dark. In the center of the room a single shaft of light shines from above onto a cauldron of smoking incense. Beyond it is the elevator to the other floors. Level 2 (10 m), World of Gratitude and Thankfulness Mostly dedicated to scriptural studies Level 3 (20–30 m), World of the Lotus Sanctuary 3,000 samples of gold Buddha statues Level 4 (80–85 m), Room of Mt. Grdhrakuta Also on the fourth floor are windows looking out from the Buddha's chest onto the adjacent flower garden and small animal park.

Panoramic view

See also Daibutsu Kōtoku-in, temple in Kamakura, home to second largest seated bronze Buddha statue in Japan. Tōdai-ji, temple in Nara, home to second largest seated bronze Buddha statue in Japan. The largest being the Great Showa Buddha located in Aomori prefecture standing at 21 m Leshan Giant Buddha in China, the tallest stone Buddha sculpture in the world. Tian Tan Buddha, located in Hong Kong, world's tallest seated Buddha statue. List of tallest statues, many of which are Buddhist statues

References

External links Official website Tallest statues by Reuters

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ushiku Daibutsu

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ushiku Daibutsu claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ushiku Daibutsu before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ushiku Daibutsu ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ushiku Daibutsu

In research: Ushiku Daibutsu appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ushiku Daibutsu in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ushiku Daibutsu is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1993 establishments in Japan, 1993 sculptures, Bronze Buddha statues, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ushiku Daibutsu outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Ushiku Daibutsu in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ushiku Daibutsu means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ushiku Daibutsu out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ushiku Daibutsu in simple terms?

Why does Ushiku Daibutsu matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ushiku Daibutsu?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ushiku Daibutsu.