TAXILA, Nov 2: The chief priest of Japan’s Kenchoji temple, Shodo Yoshid at the head of a 35-member delegation, mostly monks, visited Taxila museum, ancient Buddhist monastery and Stupa Julian here on Wednesday.

On their arrival, the delegation was briefed about various sites and the museum which houses hundreds of antiquities and statues of the great Buddha.

The delegation expressed its pleasure over the proper upkeep and preservation of the Buddhist sites and statues of Buddha. They evinced keen interest in the huge statues of the Great Buddha placed in various cases in the museum and various stone sculptures depicting the life and ways of worship by the Buddha.

The archeologists of the federal department of archaeology, while briefing the delegation, said relations between the areas now constituting Pakistan and Japan were 1,454 years old. They said the gods and goddesses worshipped in Japan were born in Gandhara and also carried to Tibet, China, Korea and Mongolia, Central Asia and the Far East.

Those include the Buddha, Maitreya, Amitabh, Avalokite Sharara, Manushri and other Bodhisattvas as well as the god of wealth, Panchika and goddess of fertility, Hariti. They hoped that with the active exchange of delegates between the two friendly countries, Pakistan would again become a tourist destination for the world, especially for Japan.

They were informed that Gandhara was the second holy land of Buddhism and a place where Buddhism flourished and spread to other parts of the globe.

Later, the Japanese delegation also visited the ancient Buddhist monastery and stupa dating back to 2nd to 5th century, which is commonly known as the ancient Taxila Buddhist university.