Visit Nara

Just north of Horyuji Temple, Horinji has an attractive three-storey pagoda and a collection of significant statues. It was possibly built by Prince Shotoku’s eldest son to pray for his father’s recovery from illness in AD 622, or it may have been built by three monks in AD 670: no one is certain. Lightning struck the pagoda in 1944, burning it to the ground. With donations from the public, it was reconstructed in 1978. There is an elegant Asuka Period Yakushi Nyorai (Healing Buddha), along with several statues of Prince Shotoku, other Buddhas and an eleven headed Kannon from the Heian period. In early autumn, the walk from Horyuji to Horinji leads through fields of delicate cosmos flowers.