Kannondo Hall VR Experience
The Kannondo Hall features a remarkable collection of Buddhist statues that provide a comprehensive introduction to Buddhist cosmology. The hall is not open to the public, but its statues may be viewed up close and in vivid color through virtual-reality tours offered daily at Ninnaji. Participants are seated in a room decorated with reproductions of paintings displayed within the Kannondo, and incense is lit in front of them. Using VR headsets, they are led into the darkness of the virtual hall, where myriad deities stand in formation around a central statue of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion. The statues may be studied in great detail while the deities and their respective roles and relationships are explained one by one—some with the help of computer-generated effects. The 13-minute tour is narrated in an uncomplicated and informative manner in either English, Chinese, Korean, or Japanese.