Kotoku-in Temple

Kotoku-in is a Buddhist temple of the Jodo-shu sect, in the city of Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

The temple is renowned for The Great Buddha of Kamakura (Kamakura Daibutsu), a monumental outdoor bronze statue of Amitabha, which is one of the most famous icons of Japan.

Kotoku-in Temple map.
The current bronze statue was preceded by a giant wooden Buddha, which was completed in 1243 after ten years of continuous labor, the funds having been raised by Lady Inada no Tsubone and the Buddhist priest Joko of Totomi. The wooden statue was damaged by a storm in 1248, and the hall containing it was destroyed, so Joko suggested making a new statue of bronze, and the huge amount of money necessary for this and a new hall was raised for the project.

The hall was destroyed by a storm in 1334, was rebuilt, was damaged by yet another storm in 1369, and was rebuilt yet again. The last building housing the statue was washed away in the tsunami resulting from the Nankai earthquake of 20 September 1498, during the Muromachi period. Since then, the Great Buddha has stood in the open air.

Nio Gate (Niomon).
Niomon (lit. Nio gate) is the Japanese name of a Buddhist temple gate guarded by two wooden warriors called Nio (lit. Two Kings).

The two statues are inside the two posts of the gate itself, one at the left, one at the right.
The statue on the right is called Naraen Kongo and has his mouth open to utter the first letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, which is pronounced "a".
The left statue is called Misshaku Kongo and has his mouth closed, representing the last letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, pronounced "um".
These two letters (a-un in Japanese) together symbolize the birth and death of all things.
See more at Niōmon - Wikipedia.

Nio guardians.
Nio are two wrathful and muscular guardians of the Buddha standing today at the entrance of many Buddhist temples in East Asian Buddhism in the form of frightening wrestler-like statues.

They are usually portrayed as a pair of figures that stand guarding temple entrance gates usually called Shanmen in China, Niomon in Japan and Geumgangmun in Korea.
The right statue (top) is traditionally called Guhyapada and has his mouth open, representing the vocalization of the first grapheme of Sanskrit Devanagari which is pronounced "a".
The left statue (bottom) is traditionally called Narayana and has his mouth closed, representing the vocalization of the last grapheme of Devanagari which is pronounced "hum".
These two characters together (a-hum/a-un) symbolize the birth and death of all things. (Men are supposedly born speaking the "a" sound with mouths open and die speaking an "hum" and mouths closed.)
Similar to Jaya-Vijaya, they signify "everything" or "all creation". The contraction of both is Aum.
See more at Nio - Wikipedia.

Ticket Office (left).

Great Buddha (Kamakura Daibutsu).
The Great Buddha of Kamakura (Kamakura Daibutsu) is a large bronze statue of Amitābha, located on the temple grounds.

Including the base, it measures 13.35 metres (43.8 ft) tall and weighs approximately 93 tonnes (103 tons).
According to temple records, the statue dates from around 1252, during the Kamakura period, which it is named after.
A notice at the entrance to the grounds reads, "Stranger, whosoever thou art and whatsoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages. This is the Temple of Buddha and the gate of the eternal, and should therefore be entered with reverence."

Stone thirteen-storied pagoda.

Bronze lotus petal.
At one time, there were thirty-two bronze lotus petals at the base of the statue, but only four remain, and they are no longer in place.

The 1923 Great Kanto earthquake destroyed the base the statue sits upon, but the base was repaired in 1925. Repairs to the statue were carried out in 1960–61, when the neck was strengthened and measures were taken to protect it from earthquakes. In early 2016, further research, restoration, and preservation work was performed on the statue.