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Tosyodaiji Temple

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Points of View
(1)Passing through the gate
(2)Walking into the large auditorium
(3)Walking on the path surrounded by a canopy of green

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Toshodaiji Temple is a ten-minute walk from Yakushiji Temple. It is rich in greenery and somewhat dark in marked contrast to Yakushiji. This temple was made by people from the continent, as were many of the ancient temples in Nara. When Buddhism was imported from the continent, the Japanese didn’t know how build temples because there weren’t any in Japan; this was a skill learned from the Chinese and the Koreans. The inside of the complex feels as if time has stopped, such is the tranquility and darkness. Now, let’s enter the site.

Passing through the gate, you see a modern building just ahead that looks like a warehouse or factory. This was built for the purpose of restoring the main building, and covers the whole of the main structure. The restoration work will continue until 2010. This main building contains the major statues, but unfortunately they are not on display now. Looking back to the entrance, you see the gate over the path. This gate is quite ordinary and simple, but graceful. You see the modern scenery through the opening of the gate, as if it divides the present world and a different world.

Behind the main building under restoration lies a long, wide auditorium that houses a number of images, which are placed along the passage at regular intervals. This structure looks like a tunnel of the past as it is very wide, and, like the gate, it is simple and elegant. The building consists of an orderly and recurrent combination of roof tiles, rafters and columns, giving it a crisp, clear air. The buildings of temples themselves do not generally differ a great deal from each other, but strangely, the atmosphere of this temple is somewhat different from that of others.

It is pleasant to walk around the site for a while. These elements of trees, moss and gravel set off the buildings very nicely. In this complex, the building plays the main part, while these natural elements play a supporting role. Contrary to this case, in the gardens of Kyoto an important role of buildings is to set off the garden nicely; natural elements form the main part, and the buildings play a supporting role. The paths in this complex are also very definite and artificial.  Kyoto gardens generally have paths that are in harmony with nature and exist alongside it, but in this complex the paths are quite separate from the natural elements. Going to the back of this site, you see that the ground is grown over with trees, their green canopy covering the paths. These trees are only casually maintained. There is no bamboo, and the soil is partly covered with moss, which is also very beautiful.

An air of ancient times rather than modernity pervades this temple. Passing through the gate contrasting the old with the new, entering the wide building reminiscent of an ancient tunnel and walking in the tunnel of the green-wrapped path may give the feeling of traveling back to ancient times.


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Related site: Mii-dera Temple, Shisendo Temple, Yakushiji Temple