An annual ritual was held to dust off the 49-foot-tall Great Buddha statue at Todaiji temple in Nara, Japan. About 180 priests and worshippers wearing masks and clad in white outfits climbed onto the hands and knees of the Vairocana Buddha statue — a designated national treasure — to polish it with cloths on Aug. 7. Some people worked in baskets hanging from the ceiling of the Great Buddha Hall, cleaning the statue’s face and chest. It took about two hours to clean and purify the statue.