Horyuji -
A Prince and his Temple

In Horyuji art and history are so condensed that I almost hesitate to write about it. The subject is just too large. But if I would have to select one Japanese temple to take with me to an uninhabited island, it would be Horyuji. Japan's oldest extant temple, and the oldest set of wooden buildings on earth, is a veritable treasure trove. It boasts 38 national treasures and almost 150 important cultural properties. But more than that, it has managed to faithfully preserve the atmosphere of Japan's early Buddhism. It is also dedicated to the memory of Prince Shotoku, one of the most revered persons in Japanese history...

Although every year a whole new shelf of books on the Prince is published in Japan, very little is known about him and of the scant facts much is disputed. The Prince, who founded Horyuji (then known as Wakakusadera) as a private chapel, became himself an object of devotion in Japan's Middle Ages and now is firmly the stuff of legends.

Guardian in the Chumon Gate

A Seventh-Century Time Capsule
Horyuji stands in a bright pastoral landscape to the southwest of the town of Nara. Ikaruga as this area is called, though not unspoiled anymore, still manages the pretense of being countryside. Large pine trees line the approach to the temple and grace the grounds. Standing inside, among the archaic wooden buildings, one indeed feels as if slipping back to the 7th century.

I have come early, at eight in the morning, and enter as soon as the gate is opened. Horyuji is firmly on the route of school tours and I want to see its beautiful statues before the crowds engulf the temple with their noise.

Although the original temple was once destroyed by fire in 670, after that Horyuji has withstood the onslaught of time particularly well. Of course, some buildings were replaced and others added. The temple grew and flourished. But in contrast to other important temples as Kofukuji and Todaiji, it has kept itself remarkably intact during its 1,400-year history. While those other temples interfered forcefully in politics with armies of monks and paid the price for it with destruction and the loss of their treasures, Horyuji was a temple of peace, dedicated to the memory of its founder, Prince Shotoku (574 - 622).

The Kondo or Golden Hall

Japan's First Buddhist
When political maneuvering brought Prince Shotoku's aunt to the throne as Empress Suiko (554-628), Shotoku (the second son of Emperor Yomei, who died in 587) became crown prince and regent in 593. He remained in that position until his death. One of his most important acts was to resume sending envoys to Sui-dynasty China, thus opening up avenues for cultural, economic, and political exchange. From both China and Korea, monks and temple builders flocked to Japan that was seeking to link itself with international Buddhist culture.

In 601, the prince started to live in Ikaruga where he built a residence. It has been surmised that he wanted to be closer to Naniwa (Osaka), the gateway to Korea and China (although it meant being 20 kilometers removed from the Asuka capital, and thus from active politics).

Prince Shotoku has been called the first real Buddhist in Japanese history. It is impossible to ascertain such matters of the soul, but it is known that in 606 he lectured at court on three Buddhist scriptures, among which the Lotus Sutra and Vimalakirti Sutra. The Seventeen Articles, a sort of 'Way of Life' ascribed to him, also contains Buddhist influence. And the prince founded at least two temples, among which Horyuji, originally established between 605 and 607 as a private chapel on his Ikaruga estate. It probably contained a Yakushi statue made as a prayer for his father, Emperor Yomei's bliss in afterlife. The Prince also has been credited with the words: "The world is Illusion; only Buddha is Truth."

In 623 the prince himself died and his wife and family had a statue made of Shaka Nyorai, the historical Buddha, with two attendants, as a prayer to his memory. Although the temple was destroyed by a fire in 670, that statue survives. It was cast of bronze, but the style is that of stone sculpture of the Northern-Wei dynasty of China. Through a door covered with wire netting, I gaze at it in the dusky Kondo Hall, trying to catch the famous 'archaic smile.' It is one of several statues in the temple said to resemble the prince in countenance... At its back is apparently written a dedication, containing the wish for the Prince to find bliss in the afterlife: "May he rise to the Pure Land, may he fast rise to Enlightenment."

1,300-year old wooden pillars

The World's Oldest Wooden Buildings
Horyuji was only the second full temple compound to be established in Japan, after the temple now known as Asukadera set up by Soga no Umako in 588 and built by artisans from the Korean state of Paekche. It consisted of a Kondo Main Hall and a five-storied pagoda, both set inside a covered corridor.

The question, hotly debated by art historians, is whether we are still seeing those original buildings. According to an account in the Nihon Shoki, the original temple was destroyed by a fire in 670. However, the temple's own history dating from 747 (and thus only slightly younger than the Nihon Shoki from 720) makes no mention of such a fire. This discrepancy in the records has led to much scholarly discussion, between a group of 'reconstruction' adherents and their opponents. The reconstruction theory received support in 1939 when during an archeological survey old temple foundations were found in an area to the south-east of the present temple (due east from where now the Nandaimon stands, and south of the present temple museum). The archeologists found the foundations of a main hall and a pagoda that stood right in front of it in the continental style still seen in Shitennoji in Osaka. They also discovered tiles, clearly pointing to the fact that this must have been the original temple. This put the discussion to rest: the temple was rebuilt on a slightly different location after the fire.

The rebuilding was finished with the installation of sets of clay figures into the pagoda in 710. That makes the temple about one century younger than the original one founded by the Prince. But it firmly remains the oldest surviving temple in Japan and in its Kondo, pagoda and surrounding corridor with Chumon gate, it possesses the oldest set of wooden buildings on earth. I look at the pillars of the corridor, and when nobody looks, furtively touch one of them with my hand. This wood is more than 1,300 years old and it is still standing firm. Although susceptible to fire, wood is a superb building material: alive and still strong. The ancient wood now almost has the hardness of steel.

Horyuji's Pagoda

A Prince's Temple
Entering the temple compound via the Nandaimon (Great South Gate), I first visit the Western Precinct. This contains a central compound, surrounded by a roofed corridor, where the oldest buildings and statues are gathered. The Chumon Gate with pillars showing beautiful entasis, is the official entrance, though not for today's visitors, who have to use a side gate where the entrance tickets are sold. Inside this compound, the white sand with green pines indicates a sacred ground. In the middle stand the Kondo Hall and the five-storied pagoda. The Kondo contains the above-mentioned Shaka Nyorai Triad and many other wonderful statues. It is a holy space filled with Buddhist compassion. Unfortunately, its wall frescoes (reminiscent of those in the Dunhuang caves in China) were destroyed by a fire in 1949.

While I stand looking at the Shaka statue, I hear the priests chanting sutras in the nearby Lecture Hall. Later, one of them stands in front of the Kondo and says a short prayer. Or perhaps, at the beginning of the day, he comes to pay his respects to the Shaka here.

The pagoda dates from 710 and is 34 meters high. Inside its four doors, one can see small clay figures enacting scenes from the Buddha's life. After visiting the Great Lecture Hall, which was later added to this compound, I walk past the Shoryoin, a hall dedicated to prince Shotoku, before entering the rich vaults of the Daihozoden museum. Here, a special new hall has been set up for the long and slender Kudara Kannon. There are many other statues and valuable art works as the Tamamushi shrine, which, though rather faded, contains the oldest paintings in Japan, scenes from the previous lives of the Buddha. I am glad I came so early: when I am in the last room of the museum, after enjoying the mysterious beauty of the Kudara Kannon, it is hit by the first tour group of the day and the peace and quiet are gone.

The Yumedono

The Grace of the Kannon
Finally, I proceed to the Eastern Compound, set up in 739 on the ruins of the Prince's palace by the priest Gyoshin. Here stands the famous octagonal Yumedono or Hall of Dreams where the Prince is venerated in the form of the Guze Kannon statue. This used to be a 'secret' Buddha, but thanks to Ernest Fenollosa, the American art critic, it was revealed to the world in the late 19th century. According to a pious tradition, the face is again that of the prince, and the size of the statue also is supposed to be the same. Within a century after his death, the Prince had become an object of worship himself. He was thought to be an incarnation of Kannon, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, and it was this popular cult that has helped Horyuji survive the centuries. The hall is only open in spring and autumn. Although it is closed today, unwittingly I fold my hands and bow to the unseen presence inside, to Kannon, who has been with me since the beginning of this pilgrimage.