Yakushi-ji

photo by 663highland · CC BY 2.5

photo by 663highland · CC BY 2.5

Its roofs make it look six storeys high, but inside it is a pagoda of only three storeys.

Visitors see a tower that, with its overlapping roofs, looks six storeys high, but the internal structure is a pagoda of only three storeys: three smaller roofs, the mokoshi, at levels 1, 3 and 5 are a decorative addition unique to this temple. It is the only building to survive from the temple's founding, and the oldest in the whole of the ancient capital Heijō-kyō.

The Tōtō, the eastern pagoda of Yakushi-ji, is the only building to have survived to the present day from the founding of the complex, and the oldest in the whole of Heijō-kyō, the ancient capital at Nara. Restored from 2009 onwards, it went back on public view on 15 February 2021. The temple is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.

🚉 Nishinokyō · 6 min walk

Sources: yakushiji.or.jp

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