Tōdai-ji Temple

Tōdai-ji was founded in 738 and formally dedicated in 752, when Emperor Shōmu commissioned it as a response to famine, epidemics, and political unrest across Japan. More than 2.6 million laborers are recorded as having worked on the temple and its Great Buddha Hall, a scale of construction without precedent in Nara-period Japan.

The hall, rebuilt in 1709 after fire destroyed earlier versions, still ranks among the largest wooden buildings in the world despite being about 30 percent smaller than the original. Inside sits the Great Buddha of Nara, a nearly 15-meter bronze figure recast several times over the centuries. Flanking the hall are the Kongō Rikishi guardian figures, carved by the sculptor Unkei and his workshop in the early 13th century.

Tōdai-ji once served as the administrative head of Japan's provincial temple network and housed all six Buddhist schools active during the Nara period, a religious authority it held before power shifted toward Kyoto and Kamakura.