Tōdai-ji

도다이지

Tōdai-ji, the "Great Eastern Temple", is a Buddhist temple in the city of Nara, Japan. It is best known for its Great Buddha Hall, which holds a bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, called Daibutsu. The hall was the largest wooden building in the world until 1998. The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara".

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At a glance

Country: Japan
Location: Nara, Japan
Built: 752
Height: 49 m
Type: Religious building

Quick answers

Where is Tōdai-ji?

Tōdai-ji is in Nara, Japan.

When was Tōdai-ji built?

Tōdai-ji was built in 752.

How tall is Tōdai-ji?

Tōdai-ji is about 49 m tall.

Nara temple whose Great Buddha Hall, one of the world's largest wooden buildings, shelters a 15 m bronze Buddha.

Nara was Japan's capital in the 700s. Emperor Shōmu ordered this giant Buddha made in 743 to bring peace and protection after years of disease and crop failures, and the temple opened in 752. The statue is about 15 meters tall.

A temple built by many hands

The temple's own records say that more than 2.6 million people helped to build the Great Buddha, by giving materials, money or labor. The monk Gyōki traveled around the country asking for donations. At its start the temple also had two pagodas about 100 meters tall, among the tallest buildings of their time, but they were later destroyed by an earthquake.

The Great Buddha Hall today

Fires twice destroyed the hall, and the building you see today was finished in 1709. It is 57 meters long, 50 meters wide and 49 meters high, yet it is still about 30 percent smaller than the original, because there was not enough money to rebuild it at full size. By the late 1800s its huge roof was in danger of collapsing, so it was repaired in the early 1900s and strengthened with steel frames between 1974 and 1980.

Fun facts

Its bronze Great Buddha is about 15 m tall.
The Buddha statue is 14.98 meters tall and counts as the world's largest bronze statue of Vairocana.
The Great Buddha Hall was the world's largest wooden building until 1998.
Two guardian statues at the south gate stand 8.5 meters tall.