Nara Temple Reopens Great Buddha’s ‘Nostril’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:28 JST, June 1, 2023

A student squeezes through a hole, which is said to be the size of the Great Buddha’s nostril, at the base of a pillar at Todaiji temple in Nara City on Thursday. The temple allowed visitors to go through the 37-centimeter by 30-centimeter hole for the first time in three years, following a suspension due to the pandemic. A third-year junior high school student from Tokyo was the first person to go through the hole after the suspension. “[The hole] was narrow, but I managed to get through,” he said. “I’ll remember this forever.”