About Horyu-ji Temple

Current Preservation Repair Project

Pamphlet of Toin Raido Repair Project(PDF)

Overview of Horyu-ji Temple

1. Overview of Horyuji

When it was originally built, Horyuji was known as Ikarugadera or Ikaruga Temple. The first recorded reference to this temple is a chronicle entry for the 14th year of the Suiko era (606 CE) in the Nihonshoki, the oldest remaining official chronicle of Japan. According to the inscription on the halo behind an image of Bhaisajyaguru (Buddha of Healing) presently located in the Golden Hall, Emperor Yomei wished the establishment of a temple to pray for all illnesses, including his own, to be cured. He passed away, however, before his wish was realized. Empress Suiko and Prince Shotoku honored his will. The chronicle records that they had the image of Bhaisajyaguru made and had the Temple completed in the 15th year of the Suiko era (607). It also records that the temple buildings were engulfed in a fire, and all was lost in the 9th year of the Tenji era (670). In an official document of Horyuji recoding the origins of the temple buildings together with reports to the central government on the temple’s assets, however, this fire is not mentioned. Due to an additional fact that the architectural styles of the existing buildings of Horyuji, such as the Golden Pavilion and the Five-Storied Pagoda are different from those of other buildings built during the period of the Hakuho and Tenpyo cultures, arguments raged during the Meiji period and thereafter over whether or not the original Ikaruga Temple had been rebuilt. Currently, the view that the present temple buildings in the Western Precinct were rebuilt after the fire in the 9th year of the Tenji era is favored, based on the excavations of the remains of Wakakusa temple, the results of building disassembly, and repair studies.

According to another official document concerning Horyuji recording the origins of the temple buildings in the Eastern Precinct, they were built in the 11th year of the Tenpyo era (739) by Monk Gyoshin. He lamented the devastated condition of the former site of the Ikaruga Palace, which is said to have been built by Prince Shotoku, and eventually built the temple buildings on the site. In excavation research conducted before repair work began on the Denpodo (Lecture Hall) and Shariden and Edono (buildings for Buddha’s relics and screen paintings) in the precincts, building remains that were considered to be part of the Ikaruga Palace were found. Therefore, it may be concluded that the temple buildings in the Eastern Precinct were built around the documented time. The descriptions in the aforementioned official documents suggest that the temple buildings originally belonged to another independent temple. They seem to have been consolidated within Horyuji gradually around the 11th century and thereafter.

As for the subordinate temples of Horyuji, their dates of establishment are not known. According to a document titled, Bettoki, authored by a steward to the temple, the Great Southern Gate was transferred to its present location in 1031, and the Great Western Gate 2 was built by 1039. It is presumed, therefore, that the temple’s precincts became clearly demarcated, and that the outer perimeter structures were established around this time. Afterwards, it is likely that subordinate temples were built within the precinct one after another over time. In an old map dated the 4th year of the Tenmei era (1784), a total of 69 areas for subordinate temples can be identified, along with 77 monks’ buildings. These numbers declined gradually thereafter, and the number of subordinate temple areas that actually have any buildings is down to 14 at present.

2. Summary of structure

Structure: One-story building with a west-side gable-roof structure and an east-side hip-roof structure covered with pantile roofing, measuring 18.0 m in the longitudinal direction and 7.9 m in the transverse direction over the main part of the building, and comprising four 8-tatami mat rooms, one 6-tatami mat room, two 4-tatami mat rooms, verandas, earth floors, a service entrance, and other spaces.

Designation status: National Treasure designation on June 9, 1943 Re-designated as an Important Cultural Property on August 29, 1950, following enactment of the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties.

Main dimensions: 159.09 m² horizontal building area, 243.17 m² area including areas covered by eaves, 297.84 m² total roof area

Map of Horyu-ji Grounds

Map of Horyu-ji Grounds (PDF)

Summary of Horyu-ji Temple Buildings (correspond to the number of the Map of Horyu-ji Grounds)

(1)Nandaimon (Great South Gate)　National Treasure , Muromachi period: 1438

　This great southern gate stands just in front of the Inner Gate, and was rebuilt at this location around 1033. The current structure was rebuilt in 1438. This is a peculiar building in that its details are of styles developed in and after Japan’s middle ages.

(2)Chumon (Central Gate)　National Treasure, Asuka period

　This 2-story gate has 4 spans in its longitudinal direction, and 3 spans in its transverse direction. No other gates have this architectural style in later periods in Japan. Its details feature, in general, the same Horyuji style designs as those in the Five-Story Pagoda and Golden Hall.

   Kairo (Cloister-Gallery)   National Treasure, Asuka period

   The present corridors zigzag a little at the south ends of Shoro and Kyozo and connect with the Large Lecture Hall on its sides. This remodeling was made when the Large Lecture Hall was rebuilt (990). Originally, the present east and west zigzagging points were directly connected with a straight north side corridor, and the Large Lecture Hall was on the outside of the corridor enclosure.

(3)Kondo (Main Hall)　National Treasure, Asuka period

　This is the only one of Golden Halls constructed in the Asuka period that remains today. This hall features various designs, such as stout columns with entasis, cloud-patterned bracket arms and cloud pattern bracket complexes characteristic of the so-called “Horyuji style.” This building contains an image of Gautama Buddha flanked by two attendants as the principle object of worship that was created for Prince Shotoku. World-famous murals were painted on the inside walls, but have been lost to fire.

(4)Goju-no-to (Five-Story Pagoda)　National Treasure, Asuka period

　The oldest five-story pagoda in Japan, built in the same Horyuji style as the Golden Hall The
roof for each story is made smaller than that of the story below, a design feature that gives the pagoda its stable impression. This building contains a group of statues that depict the scene of the
Buddha’s death.

(5)Daikodo (Great Lecture Hall)　National Treasure, Heian period: 990

　This building was originally built as a dining hall, but later changed to a lecture hall. There were originally 8 spans in the longitudinal direction, but one span was added later, resulting in a 9-span building. This building is the oldest remaining example where the hidden roof method is used (hidden rafters are installed over visible rafters for building’s eves to construct a roof independent of the latter).

(6)Kyozo (Sutra Repository)　National Treasure, Nara period

　A storehouse building that has the standard style of a storehouse for sutras and the like in the Nara period. Its details are of Tempyo style, a characteristic different from the Golden Hall.

(7)Shoro (Bell House)　National Treasure, Heian period

　A building rebuilt around the same time as the Large Lecture Hall. The scale, structure, and style are the same as those of the Sutra Storehouse. It was likely that old designs were followed when the building was rebuilt.

(8)Kaminomido (Temple in a High Place)　Important Cultural Property, Kamakura period: 1318

　This building stands on a hilly portion behind the Large Lecture Hall. There is little known about this building, such as its time of establishment and its original usage. This building, though built in the Kamakura period, features archaic designs, such as encircling verandas instead of a floor. This building contains an image of Gautama Buddha flanked by two attendants as the principle object of worship that was created in the Heian period.

(9)Saiendo (Western Octagonal Chapel)　National Treasure, Kamakura period: 1250

　An octagonal building that stands on a hilly portion in the north-western corner of Horyuji’s precincts. The current structure was a rebuilt in the Kamakura period. The scale of the buildings is similar to that of the Hall of Dreams, but this building is built more simply overall. This building contains a dry-lacquered Buddhist image from the Nara period (National Treasure) as a venerated object of worship.

(10)Sankyoin and Nishimuro (Three-Sutra Hall and West Dormitory)　National Treasure, Kamakura period: 1231

　These buildings were formerly used as monks’ quarters, and were rebuilt in the Kamakura period. Their appearances resemble that of the Holy Spirit Temple Shoryoin, but are more simply built.

(11)Daihozoin (Gallery of Temple Treasure)　Heisei period:1998

　This is completed in 1998, which has as its center the Kudara Kannon Hall. This structure is a rich repository of Japan's cultural heritage, preserving within its walls many priceless items.

(12)Kudara Kannondo (The Kudara Kannnon Hall)　Heisei period:1998

　This is a Hall to enshrine the Kudara Kannon in peace. The Kudara Kannon statue bequeathed to Horyuji is world famous as a Buddhist statue representing Japan's Buddhist art.

(13)Todaimon (Great East Gate)　National Treasure, Nara period

　An eight-legged gate with 3 spans, including a one gated-span. The gables are adorned with double transverse beams with frog-leg struts, and the exposed under-roof ceiling is of the Mimune style, with an M-shaped, fair-faced ceiling. This is an important building since only this gate and the Tengai-mon gate at Todaiji Temple remain as eight-legged gates inherited from antiquity.

(14) Toin Yumedono (Hall of Dreams)　National Treasure, Nara period: 739

　A full-fledged octagonal building. Only the frame members such as posts, beams, and non-penetrating tie beams are the original ones from the Nara period. It underwent major repair work in 1230, in which the posts were shortened, and the eaves expanded. This building contains an image of Bodhisattva Kanzeon created in the Asuka period.

(15)Toin Shariden and Eden (Building for Buddha’s Relics and Paintings)　Important Cultural Property, Kamakura period: 1219

　On the left of this building is the Shariden that enshrines the so-called Namu-Busshari (Buddha’s relic), which appeared, according to a legend, in the hands of two year-old Prince Shotoku when he chanted a Buddhist prayer. Contained on the right portion are pictures on screens that chronicle incidents in the life of Prince Shotoku. Many technologies inherited from the Nara period can be identified in this building.

(16)Toin Denpodo (Lecture Hall)　National Treasure, Nara period

　This is a remodeled version of the building originally dedicated by Lady Tachibana (wife of Emperor Shomu) to be used as a lecture hall. This building has a characteristically Nara-period structure known as “double rainbow beams” (curved transverse beams) with frog-leg struts.

(17)Toin Shoro (Belfry In Eastern Precinct)　National Treasure, Kamakura period

　This building was originally built in 1163. The present structure was rebuilt in the Kamakura period using some of the original members. While the belfry in the Western Precinct is a gate-style building, this belfry features skirting walls in the lower part. This is the oldest example of this style.