Usuki Castle
Usuki is a city located in a bay along the eastern coast of Oita Prefecture. It is located about 25 km southeast of Oita city. Usuki Castle was a castle in Usuki city, and was located on a hill near the bay. The castle was built by Ôtomo Yoshishige (1530-1587) in 1562. He was a powerful warrior, but had escaped to Usuki after defeat in a battle of the civil war.
The hill of the castle was originally a small land-tied island, and the site was a natural fortress. It is about 450 meters from east to west and about 100 meters from north to south. There were a castle tower and 31 other towers and buildings. But most of the buildings were demolished after the end of feudal Edo Government in 1868. The ruin of castle with a few buildings and some stone walls became a park.
Usuki Stone Bhuddas
Magaibutsu are Buddhist statues that are carved directly into exposed rock, often cliff faces. Technically they are relief carvings and so cannot be moved or seen from behind, as opposed to Sekibutsu, which are fully three dimensional statues and can be moved. Both types can be found all over Japan, but the highest concentration of magaibutsu are found in Oita Prefecture in northern Kyushu.
The Kunisaki Peninsula in the northern part of the prefecture is where most can be found, including what are believed to be the oldest and biggest magaibutsu in Japan, but another big cluster are found in the south of the prefecture near the town of Usuki. About five kilometers from Usuki town about 60 statues can be found in four groups close to each other. Believed to have been carved somewhere around the end of the Heian Period (794-1185).
It is not known exactly who carved them although experts believe that due to their high quality they were made by, or under the direction of, a master carver. The rock in which the carvings are made is mostly tuff and lava from nearby Mount Aso, and is therefore relatively soft and hence easily workable, which is why the statues have such a fine level of detail, it also means that the ravages of time and weather have damaged them over the centuries. However, after decades of restoration work, including constructing roofs to protect them from further weather erosion, 59 of the 60 statues here were designated as National Treasures, the first stone statues in Japan to be so designated.
