Tōdai-ji is a major Buddhist temple located in Nara City, Nara Prefecture, and serves as the head temple of the Kegon sect in Japan. It is world-renowned for the Great Buddha of Nara (Daibutsu), the colossal statue of Vairocana Buddha enshrined in the Great Buddha Hall (Daibutsuden). The temple’s formal name is “Kinshō Senju Shitennō Gokoku no Tera” (“The Temple for the Protection of the Nation by the Four Heavenly Kings of the Golden Light Sutra”). It was commissioned by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period in the 8th century, with the monk Rōben as its founding priest. The construction of Tōdai-ji was not only a religious undertaking but also a political and spiritual effort to safeguard the nation through Buddhism, positioning the temple as the central temple (Sōkokubunji) of all provincial temples across Japan.
During the Nara period, Tōdai-ji was of immense scale. In addition to the Great Buddha Hall, the temple grounds once included two seven-story pagodas, each over 70 meters tall, creating a magnificent temple complex. However, many of these structures were destroyed by fires caused by wars in the late Heian and Sengoku periods. The present Great Buddha has undergone multiple restorations, with only parts such as the pedestal retaining original elements. The current Great Buddha Hall, rebuilt in 1709 during the Edo period at a reduced scale, is still one of the largest wooden structures in the world.
Since its completion, the Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji has stood as a symbol of Japanese Buddhist faith. Its influence extended beyond Nara, inspiring the construction of other large Buddha statues such as the Kamakura Daibutsu and the Great Buddha of Hōkō-ji in Kyoto. By the Edo period, the Great Buddhas of Nara, Kamakura, and Kyoto (the “Kyō Daibutsu”) were collectively referred to as the Three Great Buddhas of Japan.
In 1998, Tōdai-ji was inscribed as part of the “Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara”, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.
