Scrums of rugby fans visit Buddhist statue resembling Japan star

Ayumu Goromaru credits Jonny Wilkinson with inspiring his trademark kicking style after he attended a coaching session with the former England international more than a decade ago.

The Japanese rugby star’s compatriots, though, would like to believe the roots of his “trigger” pose go back much further – to a 500-year-old Buddhist statue.

Weeks after Japan caused the greatest upset in Rugby World Cup history with a 34-32 victory over South Africa, Japanese fans are flocking to Seki Zenkoji temple to see a Buddhist statue whose hand gestures resemble Goromaru’s pre-kick action.

The temple in Gifu prefecture, central Japan, has experienced a surge in visitors, including young rugby players hoping to emulate their hero, since late last month, according to Shunkai Sato, the chief priest. “At weekends, more than 1,000 people pay homage a day,” he told Agence France-Presse.

The 29-year-old full-back became a national hero overnight after scoring 24 points in Japan’s opening match victory over the Springboks, before going on to become the first Japanese player to be named in the tournament’s dream team.

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Sato said he never thought the three-metre-tall statue of Dainichi Nyorai, the supreme Buddha, would become an object of worship among rugby fans. “The style of the statue is very rare,” he said. “I have never seen it elsewhere.”

Although it is not unusual for Buddhist statues to have their hands arranged in religious gestures, the bronze deity at Seki Zenkoji is a rarity, with its index fingers pointing upwards to form a “church steeple”.

The statue was cast in China about 500 years ago and was brought to Japan about 100 years ago, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Goromaru, who is to leave Japanese club rugby in February to play for the Queensland Reds in Australia, has said Wilkinson made a huge impact on his kicking style when the then England fly-half held a coaching session in Japan in 2004.

“Jonny Wilkinson came to Waseda University, who I was playing for at the time, to give kick coaching as part of an Adidas promotion. He taught me his kicking style and that helped initiate my own style,” Goromaru said in an interview with ESPN during this autumn’s tournament in England and Wales.

“I remember being shocked to see just how good he was.”