Horyuji Temple

Points of View
(1)The beauty of composition in the western part
(2)The path connecting the western and eastern parts
(3)The intimate scaled features of the eastern part

This temple is one of the most familiar to Japanese people, and is especially famous as the oldest wooden structure in the world. The fascination of this temple may lie not in the typical natural beauty commonly seen in Kyoto, but in a beauty composed of structures, an artificial beauty.

Horyuji Temple consists of two sections, a western part and an eastern part. The western part contains the famous five-story tower and the main hall. Next to the western part, there is a treasure house known as the Dai-hozo-in, where many kinds of images are stored. The eastern part, in contrast, contains a number of small buildings. Now, let’s enjoy this temple.

To get to the temple, you take a train and a bus from the center of Nara. Getting off at the bus stop near the temple, you pass along the straight approach to it. Pine trees are planted at regular intervals on both sides of the road. As you reach the first gate, you can see the five-story tower and another gate behind the open mouth of this one. The magnificent juxtaposition of the five-story tower and the next gate fits perfectly into the frame formed by this one when viewed from the front. It is a completely composed beauty, cut by the opening of the gate.

As an aside, the gardens of temples in Kyoto are best enjoyed while sitting on tatami mats within the building rather than from the veranda, as the opening of the sliding papered doors acts as a frame for viewing. Like other gardens in Kyoto, the view from the frame formed by the gate is picturesque.

Going through the first gate leads you towards the next gate, a splendid structure of beautiful proportions. On both sides of this gate, corridors connect to it, and enclosed within these corridors are the five-story tower and the main hall. After paying the entrance fee at the counter, you can go into the corridors where columns, rafters and roof tiles are set at regular intervals. Close inspection of the columns in the corridors reveals that their dark brown surfaces have partly turned light brown, having been touched by many hands. The upper and lower untouched parts of the columns are an oxidized dark brown, showing the passage of time.

In this enclosed area, the five-story pagoda and the main hall stand out, while gravel covers the ground, and a number of trees are planted at each corner. I prefer to look at this architecture from a distance rather than close-up, as its appearance and silhouette have more appeal for me than its details. The planner of this complex might have focused more energy on the appearance and combination of the buildings than on the coherence of the mutual details.

After leaving the corridors, you move on to the treasure house. Many images are housed here, and it is particularly worth a visit to see the image of Kudara Kannon. This statue is very slender, and recalls a modern-day super model. Although the image was made long ago, it retains a modern beauty.

After viewing these images, you walk along, pass through the gate and reach a straight path leading to the eastern part of the complex. The center of the path is paved with stones, while the sides are covered with gravel. Along both sides of this path stretches an earthen wall with small gates placed at regular intervals, and small subtemples are arranged outside the wall. The path is well-maintained and very clean. The arrangement of the path, the wall and the gates is artificial yet beautiful.

This path ends at the eastern part, where there are a number of buildings also surrounded by corridors. Compared to the western part, this area is rather small, and the corridors are relatively low to fit within the size of the site. In the middle of the site is an octagonal building that features a very good balance between the body and the roof.