Kannon Bosatsu Statue Finds Home In Japanese Friendship Garden

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1. Kanzeon Bosatsu

Kanzeon Bosatsu - https://www.japanvisitor.com/japanese-culture/kannon

One of the most common figures encountered around Japan, especially at temples, will be a slender figure either distinctly female, or somewhat androgynous, known popularly as Kannon-sama, but the proper Japanese name is Kanzeon Bosatsu, in English often called a goddess of compassion and mercy.

Kannon is not a Buddha, but a Bodhisattva, a being who is able to achieve Nirvana but delays doing so through compassion for suffering beings, but many in Japan do not make that distinction.

Another extremely popular bosatsu, the Japanese word for Bodhisattva, is Jizo, whose often childlike statues are also very popular and can be found everywhere in Japan.