That is a Buddha statue of sorts! :) Specifically a statue of his ascetic form.
The story goes that prince Sidharta - before he became Gautama Buddha - starved himself for six years, eating as little as a few seeds a day at times, until he could touch his spine through his belly. When he was near death a young girl offered him a type of porridge which he accepted and his ascetic days came to an end, and he declared that going to the ascetic extreme was not the way to reach nirvana. This was such a shock to his original disciples that they abandoned him.
He teaches the middle way in buddhism - the path between this creepy ascetic form and the fat man we in the western world think is a Buddha statue. Gautama Buddha tells us that too much of anything is a bad thing, which is a pretty good lesson. Real statues of him will depict a pretty average sized person.
As for the jolly fat "Buddha" we see so often it isn't a statue of Buddha, but of Budai, a historical monk who has become a symbol of contentment and abundance and so is often used to symbolize this and bring it into your home - which us in the western world has confused with it being a religious symbol and a depiction of a Buddha.
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Interesting. But there are still those people who take asceticism to the extreme and basically mummify themselves.
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No one would read it! You guys just come for the giveaways anyways! :P
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https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/wO1aR/red-lake
Day 8
And off to Matsuyama City! We didn't have much time though - Typhoon Trami seriously threw out our entire schedule.
First up Ishite-ji, the most famous temple in Matsuyama. Thousands of cranes - but it was raining, so they kind of started falling apart...
Cool cave in the back. It basically tunnels through the entire mountain. Quite long!.
Creepy ascetic statue man?
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