Horyuji: Buddhism's cradle in Japan

[AsahinaKimi]

Memorial: Shoryoin, a temple dedicated to Horyuji's founder, Shotoku (574-622). STEPHEN FORSTER PHOTOS

By STEPHEN FORSTER
Special to The Japan Times

When UNESCO cast its beady, critical eye on Japan 18 years ago to assess the country's cultural and natural merits with a view — in the agency's ponderous prose — to "inscription on the World Heritage List," it settled on four places that became the nation's first entries to those ranks so adored by tourism associations.


High art: Horyuji's Central Gate (Chumon) and the pinnacle atop its five-story pagoda.

Those four comprised the lush, rain-every-day island of Yakushima, which lies 70 km off the southern tip of Kyushu in Kagoshima Prefecture; the still largely virginal forests of Shirakami Sanchi straddling Akita and Aomori prefectures in northern Honshu; the beautifully deadly fortress of Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture; and the Buddhist monuments of Horyuji in Nara Prefecture.

It may have come as rather a surprise to some that Horyuji, located 14 km southwest of the city of Nara, should have been selected ahead of obviously much more famous Kyoto — and indeed Nara itself. But Horyuji really is exceptional. As well as being a landmark in Japanese history and the oldest existing Buddhist temple in the land, the complex of Horyuji contains the world's oldest wooden buildings.


No messin': A deity guarding the Chumon.

The name most closely associated with Horyuji is that of Shotoku (574-622), who as prince regent is credited with having dispatched the first envoys to China and promulgating Japan's first national constitution. He also made enormous efforts to promote the incipient faith of Buddhism.

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[WheelWalker]

1. Blessings.

[Vehl]

2. Fascinating architecture

One more place added to the list of places I have to see when visiting Japan.
Thank you for sharing.