---
node: byodoin_phoenix_hall
type: art
slug: byodoin_phoenix_hall
title: "Phoenix Hall of Byōdō-in"
lead: "The Phoenix Hall is the Amida hall of the temple Byōdō-in at Uji, south of Kyoto, built in 1053 by the regent Fujiwara no Yorimichi. Rising over a pond like a vision of the Pure Land, it is one of the few surviving buildings of the Heian period."
published: 2026-07-11
updated: 2026-07-11
image_file: byodoin_phoenix_hall.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Byodoin_Phoenix_Hall_Uji_2009.jpg"
image_author: "663highland"
image_license: "CC BY 2.5"
---

## Overview

The Phoenix Hall is the Amida hall of the temple Byōdō-in at Uji, south of Kyoto, completed in 1053. The regent Fujiwara no Yorimichi converted the family villa, inherited from his father Fujiwara no Michinaga, into a temple in 1052 and built the hall a year later.

## Description

The hall enshrines a seated Amida Buddha by the sculptor Jōchō, regarded as the defining masterpiece of the yosegi joined-wood technique. With its winged corridors and the paired bronze phoenixes on its roof, the building rises over a pond like a vision of the Pure Land paradise brought into this world, according to tradition.

## History and legacy

The Phoenix Hall is one of the few buildings of the Heian period to survive. It is depicted on the 10-yen coin, and in 1994 it was inscribed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing of the monuments of ancient Kyoto.