The Great Buddha Hall was founded in 738 by Emperor Shomu, and is now a UNESCO World heritage site. An impressive sight, and it didn’t get less impressive the nearer you came. There are numerous temples everywhere in Japan, so you must decide for only some, or you will get tired. And, you do want them to shine – each one of them!
The temple complex was once the world’s biggest wooden building, but is now only 2/3 of its original size. It is situated in Nara, the old capital, and I am sure you remember the deer, roaming free there.
To get a hint of its size, see the Shibi and explanation below.
Inside is the world’s biggest bronze statue of Buddha, 15m high, weighing 500 tons. Only the ears are 2.5 meter tall. The head is 5m, and sitting there since 1632. It has fallen off several times due to fires and other disasters over the many hundreds of years the statue has existed.
The Buddha is accompanied by two Bodisattvas and some grotesque guards. There was also a model of the whole complex as it once looked. The Great Buddha Hall to the right, and then some pagodas that is no longer there. I found the doors so very beautiful.
The giant pillars holding the structure, were of almost massive wood, and in one of them there was a ”shortcut” to Nirvana – that is, if you were small enough to go through it… This little girl and her brother managed after some wiggling – and patience. Lucky for the Japanese they are so slim!
In Japan there is much queueing, but people are very disciplined. As in everything. No big gestures and no high voices. The warning signs for people visiting Nara, certainly did not apply to anything but the deer!
An impressive day throughout. But thinking of how much we had to leave out because there was no time… I think I have never felt that harder than this time. Maybe it’s because I am getting older and know – that probably I will never visit Japan again. When we are younger, we feel there are so many options. But I am so grateful to have experienced all this. It still is a wonderful world.
Leya 
What an impressive temple! Your photos and text gave me a perfect sense of size. Remarkable!
Thank you, I read somewhere that the temple was built around the statue…
WOW, what a monumental scale. Beautiful images.
Thank you, Anne! Those doors were so huge…And I read somewhere that the temple was built around the Buddha statue.
😊
That is truly on an awesome scale, especially the Buddha! I’m glad you included some measurements as otherwise I don’t think I would have properly appreciated the size 😀
It is impossible without some comparison scale!
Thank you for the delightful trip down memory lane
♥ You are welcome.
Our modern architectural styles rather blind us to the skill and imagination of earlier generations… both at home and further afield
True. I always think of how much work there is, and all calculations without computers…Indeed they were skilled. We could never achieve that today.
Traveling as we get older is a slower process and yes we will miss some attractions, but going slower I do think we see more detail, as you have shown us here. A very interesting post.
Thank you – and yes, you are right. The details stand out. There is also the satisfaction of remembering them.
Superficially, to this western eye at least, these temples are rather similar. It’s only when you get down to the detail, as you have done, that they shine individually. Thanks for sharing these discoveries!
You are so right, Margaret. That is also why one has to pick only a few – and – it’s in the detail!
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