Photographs of the Statue of Shinran Shonin at the NYBC

Photographs of the historic statue of Shinran Shonin, founder of the Jodo Shinshu school of Buddhism, in front of the New York Buddhist Church. This statue of Shinran Shonin survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, in which 150,000 people died, and 90 percent of the buildings in the city collapsed or burned. "The statue stood alone in the middle of all the burning. This gave the people some kind of hope. It is now the focus of an annual peace gathering held on August 5th when a bell is tolled at 7:15 p.m. At that moment in Japan, it is 8:15 a.m. on August 5th, the hour that the bomb was dropped." - Reverend T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki. "One cannot turn away unchastened from the blistered statue of Shinran Shonin outside the New York Buddhist Church on Riverside Drive, a figure of gently imposing nobility that somehow survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima." - David W. Dunlap (New York Times, January 25, 2002) Please click on the images to view actual photographs A photograph looking up from the base of the statue (right, 198 KB). The statue at night, with its shadow cast against the wall of the New York Buddhist Church Annex building (right, 28 KB). A close-up photograph of the statue (right, 201 KB). A close-up photograph of the statue from below (right, 232 KB). A close-up photograph of the face of the statue (right, 126 KB). A close-up photograph of the face of the statue (right, 132 KB).