Legend has it that a woman who did not believe in the Buddha arrived at Zenkoji running after a cow that had grabbed a white cloth from her in its horns. When they reached the temple, the cow disappeared and the woman spent the night there. In her sleep, she saw the Buddha who scolded her for not believing and when she woke up, she repented, prayed to the Buddha's statue and from then on became a believer. The cow does not appear again in the story but has become part of Zenkoji lore-- hence the statue.
(For a bigger version of this picture both in color and black and white, check my "Japan Arekore" set on Flickr).
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