Tens of thousands of visitors traveled to Sampozan Muryojuji Temple, the head temple of the Nenbutsushu Buddhist Sect of Japan, in Kato, Hyogo Prefecture, to commemorate the birth of Buddha on April 8.
The date was designated as the International Buddhist Day by supreme Buddhist leaders from 41 countries on five continents who gathered at the Sixth Buddhist Summit in December 2014 at the temple to celebrate across the world.
The organizer, Buddhist Summit, the World Buddhist Supreme Conference Headquarters, said about 136,000 people attended the ceremony at the Hyogo temple between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Visitors included those from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, South Korea, the U.S., Switzerland and Italy. The occasion was also marked and celebrated in 42 countries, according to the organizer.