Hōryū-ji Audio Guide

Hōryū-ji: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Hōryū Temple

   Welcome to Hōryū Temple, known in Japanese as 法隆寺, in the town of Ikaruga in Nara Prefecture. This is the head temple of the Shotoku school of Buddhism, and its principal image is Shaka Nyorai, the historical Buddha. When it was first founded, it went by a different name: Ikaruga-dera, the temple of Ikaruga. Over time that became Hōryū Temple, and it has also been called Hōryū Gakumonji, the temple of learning. Before we start walking, look at the landscape for a moment. Ikaruga sits near the southern end of the Ikoma mountains, and in ancient times the Yamato River made it a crossroads, linking the old province of Yamato, today's Nara, with Kawachi, the southern part of today's Osaka. Burial mounds from the Kofun period, including the famous Fujinoki tomb, are scattered nearby. People were gathering in this corner of the Nara basin long before the temple appeared. In the next few minutes, I will take you through the story of how a prince's palace and a temple grew side by side, how the grounds are divided into two precincts, and why this place became Japan's first World Heritage site. Ready? Let's begin with the prince.

2. 02

   A Prince Moves to Ikaruga: The Story of Hōryū Temple

   The story begins with Prince Shotoku, also called Prince Umayado. According to the Nihon Shoki, Japan's early chronicle, he decided in the year 601 to leave Asuka and settle here in Ikaruga. He began building a palace, the Ikaruga Palace, and in the year 605 he moved in. Right beside that palace rose the temple, Ikaruga-dera, which is what we now call Hōryū Temple. The town's own history places the founding of the temple in the year 607. The palace did not vanish without a trace. The Eastern Precinct of the temple stands on the site of the old Ikaruga Palace. In 1939, while workers were repairing buildings in that precinct, they found traces of posts set directly into the ground beneath it. Scholars presume these belonged to part of the palace itself, so the earth under your feet here has held a royal residence. There is also a darker chapter. In the year 643, Soga no Iruka attacked the prince's son, Yamashiro no Oe no O, at the Ikaruga Palace. Twenty-five members of the family took their own lives, and the Joguu royal house, the prince's bloodline, came to an end. The peaceful fields around Ikaruga once witnessed a very sharp turn in the politics of ancient Japan.

3. 03

   Two Precincts and the Hōryū Temple Layout

   Now let's talk about how the grounds are arranged, because Hōryū Temple is really two temple areas in one. In the Western Precinct you find the Main Hall and the Five-Story Pagoda. In the Eastern Precinct stand the Yumedono Hall and the Shoryoin Hall. This arrangement is a signature feature of the temple, and it is known as the Hōryū Temple style of layout. The buildings carry the architecture and Buddhist culture of the Asuka period, which runs from the year 592 to 710, and the complex also preserves art from the Nara period, from 710 to 794. Here is a detail that adds a layer of time. Southeast of today's Western Precinct lie the ruins of Wakakusa Garan, which marks the first temple, the one that burned down. Excavations and the dating of roof tiles unearthed there have led scholars to agree that this earlier temple dates to the reign of Empress Suiko. So the buildings you see in the Western Precinct stand beside the footprint of their predecessor. One more tradition is tied to the place itself. A shrine on the temple grounds is linked to Tatsuta Taisha, and its deity is said to have told the founders that the village of Ikaruga was the right spot to build the temple.

4. 04

   World Heritage and the Temples of Ikaruga Around Hōryū Temple

   In 1993, Hōryū Temple was registered together with Himeji Castle as one of the first two World Cultural Heritage sites in Japan, under the name Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area. The temple preserves countless National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties, including historic buildings and Buddhist statues, and it is also part of the World Heritage listing Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara. But Hōryū Temple is not alone. Ikaruga's town government points visitors to a cluster of temples with ties to Prince Shotoku. Chuguji was built on the east side of the Eastern Precinct. Hokiji and Horinji were raised by the prince's eldest son, Yamashiro no Oe no O. Horinji has a founding story with two versions: one says the prince's sons built it to pray for his recovery from illness around the year 622, and the other says it was built after the fire of Ikaruga-dera in the year 670, with help from a Baekje monk. Horinji also shows how fragile these wooden monuments can be. Its original three-story pagoda was lost to lightning in 1944, and the present pagoda was rebuilt in 1975 through the efforts of the writer Koda Aya and others. Together these temples give you what the town calls a walk through 1,400 years of history.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off from Hōryū Temple

   As you leave, take in the setting around you. The town of Ikaruga has designated a historic landscape zone with the temples and shrines of Hōryū Temple at its center. To the east and south, rice paddies and traditional farming hamlets open up, and the Tatsuta River flows on the west side of town while the Tomio River runs along the east. It is a quiet countryside, quite different from the busy crossroads it once was. As you walk, try to hold two ideas together. One is a palace and a temple standing side by side, with the Eastern Precinct resting on the old palace grounds. The other is the earlier temple, Wakakusa Garan, whose ruins lie close to the Western Precinct. See if you can sense how those lost buildings shaped the layout in front of you. And if you have energy to spare, let the road lead you to the neighboring temples of Ikaruga. Each one tells another chapter of the Prince Shotoku story, and each rewards a slow look.