Page 201 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

JAPAN 199

-< Wooden Hall
The unusual bracketing and beam-frame
construction of this vast structure, built in
1688-1709, were possibly the work of
craftsmen from southern Chin a.

A Sacred Site
A The 62-ft (19-m) high Nandaimon Above Nara, the ancient city that
(Great Southern Gate) of Todai-ji was once Japan's capital, sits Todai-ji
Temple. The curved roof is almost
hidden by the surrounding trees.

Ornamen1al roof
decoration

Gil Wooden Hall Gil Roofline Temple of Koful<u-ji, one
The striking roofline, with its of the many
golden "horns" and curved temples built by
lintel, was an 18th-century Emperor Shomyo >
embellishment.

v Kol<uzo Bosatsu
This statue of Kokuzo-the
deity of wisdom and memory-
was completed in 1709.

Pillar with Hole
Behind the Buddha is
a large wooden pillar
with a small hole bored
into it. Tradition holds
that those who can
squeeze through the
opening will attain
enlightenment.

Tamonten
This figure of a "Celestial
Guardian" dates from the
same period as Koumokuten
in the rear of the hall.

Niyorin Kannon Bosatsu
Like the Kokuzo bosatsu to A Great Buddha Vairocana
the I eft of the Great Buddha,
this "fulfiller of all wishes" is
an "Enlightened Being." The KEY DATES
statue dates from 1709.
752 1180, 1567 1998
After en during fires The Great Buddha The Todai-ji
Covered walkway
and earthquakes, Vairocana's complex at Nara is
in compound
Todai-ji Temple is head melts in declared a UNESCO
finally completed. raging fires. World Her~age Site.