Todai-ji Temple

Todai-ji (Great Eastern Temple) is a Buddhist temple complex in Nara city that served as the head temple of all provincial Buddhist temples in Japan during the Nara period (710–794 AD). Founded by Emperor Shomu in 752 AD, the temple's Great Buddha Hall (Daibutsuden) is the world's largest wooden building, stretching 57 meters wide, 50 meters deep, and 48 meters tall — and this is already a reduced reconstruction from the Edo period; the original Nara-era hall was even larger. Inside stands the Daibutsu (Great Buddha), a bronze Vairocana Buddha measuring 14.98 meters in height and weighing approximately 500 tonnes, cast between 745 and 752 AD. The casting required 437 tonnes of bronze and 130 kilograms of gold. Flanking the main Buddha are two large bodhisattva figures and guardian king statues. One of the hall's support pillars has a hole drilled through its base — approximately the size of the Daibutsu's nostril — and folklore holds that those who can squeeze through it will be blessed with enlightenment. Children manage this readily; adults typically cannot without assistance and with a degree of contortion. The outer Nandaimon Gate (Great South Gate) houses two fierce Nio guardian figures, each about 8 meters tall, carved in the Kamakura period and considered among Japan's finest large wooden sculptures. The temple grounds also contain the Nigatsu-do (Second Month Hall), a sub-hall on the hillside offering elevated views across the Nara basin.