---
node: spot_nara_horyu_ji
type: spot
slug: horyu_ji
destination: dest_nara
title: "Hōryū-ji"
lead: "Hōryū-ji holds the oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world: its pagoda and main hall date from around 700, and their central pillar was felled in 594. It stands twelve kilometres south-west of Nara."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_nara_horyu_ji.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:202505_H%C5%8Dry%C5%AB-ji_03.jpg"
image_author: "Jonashtand"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

Prince Shōtoku founded the temple in 607; that first complex burned in 670 and the rebuilding is what survives, which dendrochronology has now dated precisely. The proportions are Asuka-period and unlike anything later — heavy, wide-eaved, with entasis in the columns that has been compared, contentiously, to Greek practice. The Gallery of Temple Treasures holds the Kudara Kannon, a two-metre camphorwood figure of extraordinary slimness.

## Highlights

Come on a weekday and allow two hours: the western precinct, the treasure gallery and the octagonal Yumedono in the east are three separate walks. It is a thirty-minute train ride plus a bus from Nara, which keeps the crowds away. Photography is not allowed inside the halls, and the interiors are dark by design — let your eyes adjust rather than moving on.