Todaiji Temple in Japan

The Todaiji Temple is one of the largest temples in the ancient Japanese capital of Nara, previously called Heijokyo.

Besides being one of the largest temples in Japan, it is also a cultural storehouse, containing some of the finest artifacts of Japan’s long Buddhist history.

This episode of Begin Japanology looks at the temple and at some of the main buildings, statues and cultural relics.

The Great Buddha Hall is one of the biggest wooden buildings in the world, and yet it is only 2/3rds the size of the building it replaced when it burned down 300 years ago.

Inside is the largest bronze Buddha Statue in the world, measuring some five metres high, and weighing some 500 tons.

There are many more artifacts, including the door guardians of the Great Buddha Hall, which were made out of over 3,000 wooden pieces, in a record 69 days.