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A Brief History of Horyuji

The grounds of Horyuji (Horyu Temple) house the world's oldest surviving wooden structures, conveying images of Japan as it existed more than 1,300 years ago, during the Asuka period (538–710). The story of Horyuji's founding can be discovered in the historical writings engraved on the back of the halo of the Yakushi Nyorai (Bhaisajyaguru) statue, located on the eastern side of the room in the Main Hall (Kondo), and in the Horyuji Shizaicho [Records of Horyuji Property] in 747.​

According to these records, the Emperor Yomei vowed to build a temple and an image of a Buddha as a form of prayer for his own recovery from illness, but he died shortly thereafter without fulfilling that vow. These same writings state how Empress Suiko and Crown Prince Shotoku Taishi fulfilled Emperor Yomei's deathbed wish by building in 607 a temple and a statue of a Buddha, to which the temple was dedicated.​

On the fateful night of April 30 in the year 670, a great blaze swept through the temple grounds, leaving "not a single building" standing, as it is recorded in the Nihon Shoki [Chronicles of Japan]. However, historians in the latter part of the 19th century began to cast doubt on the accuracy of this account of Horyuji's destruction and to question whether or not the fire truly did occur. Although there are many questions that remain unanswered to this day, one thing certain is that Horyuji boasts an illustrious 14 centuries of continuous observance of tradition since established by Shotoku Taishi, the great statesman and founder of Buddhism in Japan.​

Today, Horyuji is composed of the Western Precinct (Saiin Garan), which is centered around the Five-storied Pagoda (Goju-no-To) and the Main Hall (Kondo), and the Eastern Precinct (Toin Garan), which is arranged around the Hall of Dreams (Yumedono). Throughout the 187,000-square-meter grounds are irreplaceable cultural treasures, bequeathed across the centuries and continuing to preserve the essence of eras spanning the entire journey through Japanese history since the 7th century. In fact, Horyuji contains over 2,300 important cultural and historical structures and articles, including nearly 190 that have been designated as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties. In December of 1993, Horyuji, as a unique storehouse of world Buddhist culture, became the first treasure of any kind in Japan to be selected by UNESCO as part of the World Heritage.​

  • West Quarters and Sangyoin,
    Kami-no-Mido

    detail

  • Hall of Dreams,
    Hall of Relics and Picture Hall,
    Denpodo,
    Bell Tower of the Eastern Precinct

    detail

  • West Round Hall

    detail

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