The Kondō
The main hall.
ONO Masanobu — CC0 · 663highland — CC BY 2.5 · Jonashtand — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Daderot — CC0 · Jonashtand — CC BY-SA 4.0
Hōryū-ji is a Buddhist temple in the town of Ikaruga in Nara prefecture, once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples and among the oldest Buddhist sites in Japan, about 10 km south-west of Nara city in a straight line. Prince Shōtoku founded it in 607. According to the chronicles its buildings burned after a lightning strike in 670 and were rebuilt, and the Kondō, its main hall, is widely recognised as the world's oldest wooden building. A tree-ring survey showed that the central pillar of its five-storey pagoda was cut in 594. In 1993, together with Hokki-ji, it became Japan's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. It served as both a seminary and a monastery, and its full name means Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law. You enter through wooden gates along gravel paths lined with earthen walls, then see the Kondō and the pagoda side by side in the western precinct. It is quieter than most Nara temples and worth half a day.
The main hall.
Five storeys.
Earthen walls.
Ikaruga, Nara prefecture, Japan
By train and bus from Nara.
Half a day.