Page 199 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

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VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
Practical Information
Nara Park. Tel (0742) 22-0375.
Open Mar: 8am–5pm daily;
Apr–Sep: 7:30am–5:30pm daily;
Oct: 7:30am–5pm daily; Nov–Feb:
8am–4:30pm daily. &
Transport
@ Daibutsuden Kasuga-Taisha-
mae stop.

. Wooden Hall
This vast wooden hall, completed in The beguiling “three-story” pagoda
1709, has unusual bracketing and a at Yakushi-ji
beam-frame construction.
Beyond Nara Park:
Nishinokyo District
Time permitting, two more
temples in the Nara vicinity
should not be missed.
Founded in 759 by the blind
Chinese sage and priest Ganjin,
Toshodai-ji’s original main hall
Roofline and lecture hall, designated
The striking roofline, National Trea sures, are still
with its golden “horns” standing. Be sure to visit the
and curved lintel, temple’s stunning 5.5-m (18-ft)
was an 18th-century high Senju Kannon statue.
embellishment. A little south of Toshodai-ji,
more Buddhist statuary can be
found at Yakushi-ji. Emperor
Tenmu had the temple built in
the hope of effecting a recovery
for his wife, a gesture that
seems to have worked as she
outlived him by several years.
Dedicated to the Buddha of
healing, the temple’s mas-
terpiece is its famous three-
story east pagoda, the only
original structure remaining.
The pagoda, built in 730,
KEY appears to have six levels, but
three are intermediary roofs
1 Komokuten, a heavenly guardian, placed between the main floors,
dates from the mid-Edo period.
creating an appealing optical
2 Behind the Buddha is a small effect. The 19th-century
hole bored into a large wooden pillar. American scholar Ernest
A popular belief holds that if you Fenollosa, on a visit to Yakushi-ji,
can squeeze through the hole you compared the striking geometry
will be protected from bad things of the pagoda to “frozen music.”
happening to you in the future.
3 Nyoirin Kannon Bosatsu, like
the Kokuzo Bosatsu to the left of the
Great Buddha, is an Enlightened
Being and dates from 1738.
4 Tamonten, another heavenly
guardian, dates from the same
period as Komokuten on the other
side of the hall.
5 Covered walkway in compound Toshodai-ji, where its founder, Ganjin,
is entombed
The majestic Osaka Castle, surrounded by towering modern buildings

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