Walking up the pine-lined approach through the Great South Gate into the inner precinct of Hōryū-ji in the historic town of Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, you step onto a vast expanse of white gravel enclosed by timber cloisters whose columns swell gently at mid-height in the archaic manner. Directly ahead stand two wooden structures that have kept watch side by side for more than thirteen centuries: on the right rises the double-roofed Golden Hall (Kondō), and on the left soars the Five-Story Pagoda (Gojū-no-tō), lifting five tiers of Japanese cypress eaves against the sky of the Nara Basin. The Japanese cypress (hinoki) timbers standing here were felled in the late sixth and seventh centuries, making this compound the oldest surviving wooden architectural ensemble on earth.
Founded in 607 CE by Prince Shōtoku (574 to 622) and Empress Suiko (reigned 592 to 628) to fulfill the dying vow of Prince Shōtoku's father, Emperor Yōmei, Hōryū-ji served from its inception as both a Buddhist sanctuary and Japan's earliest monastic academy under the title Hōryū Gakumon-ji (Temple of Learning of the Flourishing Law). Preserving nearly 190 buildings and liturgical treasures designated as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties of Japan, the monastery became the very first heritage site in Japan inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in December 1993.
IPrince Shōtoku, Emperor Yōmei's vow, and the cradle of Asuka Buddhism
The birth of Hōryū-ji belongs to the formative Asuka period (538 to 710), when Buddhism was newly transmitted to the Japanese archipelago from the Korean kingdom of Baekje (Kudara). According to the historical inscription engraved on the bronze mandorla behind the statue of Yakushi Nyorai (the Medicine Buddha) in the eastern bay of the Golden Hall, in 586 CE Emperor Yōmei (reigned 585 to 587) fell gravely ill. The emperor vowed before his consort (later Empress Suiko) and his son Prince Umayado (Prince Shōtoku) to build a Buddhist temple and cast an image of Yakushi Nyorai to pray for recovery, but he passed away in 587 before the work could begin.
After overcoming the anti-Buddhist Mononobe faction and assuming the office of Regent for his aunt Empress Suiko in 593, Prince Shōtoku moved his residence from Asuka to build the Ikaruga Palace (Ikaruga no Miya) in 601. Immediately west of his palace, the Prince and Empress Suiko raised the temple and completed the Yakushi Nyorai statue in the fifteenth year of Empress Suiko's reign (607 CE). Because of its location in Ikaruga, the monastery was originally known as Ikaruga-dera (斑鳩寺) as well as Hōryū-ji (法隆寺, Temple of the Flourishing Law), expressing the prayer that the Buddha's Dharma would flourish forever.
In Japanese intellectual history, Prince Shōtoku (574 to 622) is revered as the founding patron of Buddhist civilization in Japan, often compared to King Ashoka of ancient India. In 604 he promulgated the Seventeen-Article Constitution (Jūshichijō Kenpō), whose Second Article proclaimed to the court nobility: Earnestly revere the Three Treasures: the Three Treasures are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, the final refuge of all beings and the supreme norm of all nations. Within the halls of Ikaruga and Hōryū-ji, Prince Shōtoku personally lectured on and composed the Commentaries on the Three Sutras (Sangyō Gisho, the oldest surviving classical Chinese texts written in Japan, commenting on the Lotus Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, and the Srimaladevi Sutra).
The Buddhist vision Prince Shōtoku anchored at Hōryū-ji through these three Mahayana scriptures was deeply engaged with the world: upholding the universal compassion of the Lotus Sutra, taking the lay sage Vimalakirti in the Vimalakirti Sutra as the model for spiritual cultivation amidst statecraft, and honoring Queen Srimala in the Srimaladevi Sutra as an exemplar of female Buddhist patronage embodied by Empress Suiko. Throughout the Nara and Heian periods, Hōryū-ji flourished as a leading seminary of the Sanron (Three Treatise) and Hossō (Yogacara Consciousness-Only) schools. In 1950 the monastery established the independent Shōtoku-shū (聖徳宗, Prince Shōtoku Sect), serving as its head temple dedicated to both the Buddhas and the saintly regent.
Sacred worship at Hōryū-ji is organized across two main precincts: the Western Precinct (Sai-in Garan) and the Eastern Precinct (Tō-in Garan, built over the site of Prince Shōtoku's palace). Inside the Golden Hall (Kondō) of the Western Precinct, the central dais enshrines three Buddhas presiding over three Pure Lands: in the center sits the gilt-bronze Shaka Triad (Shakyamuni Buddha flanked by the Bodhisattvas Bhaishajyaraja and Bhaishajyasamudgata) cast in 623 in memory of Prince Shōtoku and his consort, on the east sits Yakushi Nyorai (the Medicine Buddha of the Eastern Lapis Lazuli Pure Land, bearing the 607 inscription), and on the west sits the gilt-bronze Amida Triad (Amitabha Buddha of the Western Pure Land, cast in 1232 to replace the stolen seventh-century original dedicated to Shōtoku's mother). Guarding the four corners of the dais stand the wooden Four Heavenly Kings (Shitennō) carved around 650, the oldest extant set in Japan.
To the north, the Great Lecture Hall (Daikōdō) enshrines a gilded cypress Yakushi Triad from the Heian period (990), while the eastern Hall of Prince Shōtoku's Spirit (Shōryō-in) enshrines a sitting wooden statue of Prince Shōtoku at age thirty-five holding a ceremonial fan as he expounds the sutras (carved in 1121). At the center of the Eastern Precinct stands the octagonal Hall of Dreams (Yumedono), which houses the secret statue (hibutsu) of Guze Kannon (World-Saving Avalokiteshvara), a 178.8-centimeter gilded camphorwood figure sculpted in the exact stature of Prince Shōtoku, reflecting the faith that the Prince was a living manifestation of Kannon Bodhisattva.
Visitors admiring the famous Kudara Kannon (Baekje Avalokiteshvara, a 2.09-meter wooden statue celebrated for its ethereal slender silhouette, now displayed in the Great Treasure Gallery) often assume that the name dates back to the seventh century and that the statue was shipped directly from the Korean kingdom of Baekje. Archival research by Hōryū-ji and the Tokyo National Museum shows that throughout ancient and medieval inventories the statue was recorded simply as Kokūzō Bosatsu (Akashagarbha Bodhisattva), and the title Kudara Kannon only came into popular use in the late seventeenth century. Scientific wood analysis further confirms that the main body was carved from a single block of Japanese camphorwood (kusunoki) while its pedestal and vase were crafted from Japanese cypress (hinoki), proving it was carved in Japan during the seventh century by master sculptors of Baekje lineage working in the Asuka region.
IIFourteen centuries of survival and the great historical debate over the 670 fire
The history of Hōryū-ji is both a living chronicle of East Asian Buddhist architecture and the subject of a famous century-long scholarly controversy among Japanese historians, architects, and archaeologists concerning the great fire of 670 recorded in the imperial chronicle Nihon Shoki.
- 601 - 607Prince Shōtoku builds Ikaruga Palace and founds Hōryū-jiIn 601 Prince Shōtoku constructed his palace at Ikaruga. In 607 (the 15th year of Empress Suiko), the Prince and Empress completed the original Ikaruga-dera (now known archaeologically as the Wakakusa-garan) and its Yakushi Nyorai image in fulfillment of Emperor Yōmei's vow.
- 622 - 623Death of Prince Shōtoku and casting of Tori Busshi's Shaka TriadPrince Shōtoku passed away on the 22nd day of the 2nd month of 622 at age 49. In the 3rd month of 623, court patrons commissioned master sculptor Kuratsukuri no Tori (Tori Busshi) to cast the gilt-bronze Shaka Triad in the Golden Hall for the Prince's peaceful rebirth.
- 30 Apr 670Lightning fire recorded in the Nihon ShokiThe imperial chronicle Nihon Shoki (completed in 720) records that before dawn on the 30th day of the 4th month in the 9th year of Emperor Tenji (670), a fire following a lightning storm burned down Hōryū-ji completely, leaving not a single building standing.
- Late 7th c. - 711Full reconstruction of the present Western Precinct (Sai-in)Following the 670 fire, the Western Precinct was rebuilt slightly to the northwest on a new side-by-side plan: the Golden Hall was completed around the 680s, and the Five-Story Pagoda and Inner Gate were finished by 711, when the clay pagoda dioramas and guardian Deva kings were installed.
- 739Monk Gyōshin establishes the Eastern Precinct and Hall of DreamsSeeing the ruined site of Prince Shōtoku's Ikaruga Palace (destroyed in 643), the monk Gyōshin petitioned the imperial court and built the Eastern Precinct (Tō-in) in 739, centered on the octagonal Hall of Dreams (Yumedono) enshrining the Guze Kannon.
- 925 and 990Rebuilding of the Great Lecture Hall on the northern sideAfter a lightning fire struck the northern cloister in 925, the grand Great Lecture Hall (Daikōdō) was reconstructed in 990 to close the northern side of the Western Precinct courtyard and house the Heian-period Yakushi Triad.
- 1939 and 2001Excavation of Wakakusa-garan and 594 CE tree-ring datingIn 1939 archaeologist Ishida Mosaku excavated the buried foundations of the earlier Wakakusa-garan southeast of the Western Precinct, confirming the 670 fire. In 2001, tree-ring dating by the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties proved that the pagoda's central cypress pillar was felled in 594 CE.
- 1949, 1950 and 1993Cultural Properties Protection Law and UNESCO World Heritage inscriptionAn electrical fire that charred the Golden Hall murals on 26 January 1949 prompted Japan to enact the 1950 Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. In December 1993, Hōryū-ji was inscribed as Japan's first UNESCO World Heritage Site.
For over a century, the debate over whether the present Golden Hall and Five-Story Pagoda of Hōryū-ji were the original buildings of 607 or reconstructions after 670 (known as the Hōryū-ji Rebuilding Controversy) divided Japanese academia. Architectural historians such as Sekino Tadashi pointed to the archaic cloud-shaped brackets, column entasis, and use of the Korean Koguryo foot (Koma-jaku) to argue that the buildings predated 670. Textual historians led by Kume Kunitake and Kida Sadakichi cited the unambiguous entry in Book 27 of the Nihon Shoki for the 30th day of the 4th month of 670 stating that after a great thunderclap Hōryū-ji caught fire, and not a single building remained.
The resolution of this paradox came from archaeology and dendrochronology. In 1939, excavations conducted by Ishida Mosaku in the southeastern garden (the Wakakusa-garan site) uncovered the massive stone foundation bases of an earlier pagoda and golden hall aligned on a single north-south axis tilted roughly twenty degrees west of the present compound, along with burnt early-Asuka roof tiles, proving beyond doubt that the original 607 temple had burned in 670. Yet when the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties conducted dendrochronological (tree-ring) testing on timbers from the surviving Western Precinct in 2001, scientists discovered that the great Japanese cypress trunk forming the central heart-pillar (shinbashira) of the Five-Story Pagoda had been felled in 594 CE, and several timbers in the Golden Hall also predated 670. This demonstrated that when carpenters rebuilt the Western Precinct immediately after 670, they incorporated seasoned seventh-century cypress logs felled during Prince Shōtoku's lifetime, securing Hōryū-ji's status as the oldest surviving wooden architecture in the world.
IIIWestern and Eastern precincts, earthquake-resistant pagoda joinery, and National Treasures
Spanning roughly 18.7 hectares, the grounds of Hōryū-ji preserve 55 historic buildings (including 19 buildings designated as National Treasures of Japan dating from the Asuka, Nara, Heian, Kamakura, and Muromachi periods). Whereas earlier monasteries such as Shitennō-ji in Osaka and the original Wakakusa-garan arranged the gate, pagoda, and golden hall in a single straight line so that the pagoda blocked the view of the main hall, the rebuilt Western Precinct of Hōryū-ji pioneered the Hōryū-ji layout (Hōryū-ji shiki garan haichi): placing the Golden Hall on the right (east) and the Five-Story Pagoda on the left (west) side by side within the cloistered courtyard, allowing pilgrims entering the Inner Gate to behold both the reliquary stupa and the Buddha hall simultaneously.
Looking closely at the cypress columns of the Inner Gate (Chūmon), Golden Hall (Kondō), Five-Story Pagoda, and surrounding Cloister (Kairō), one notices that the shafts are not straight cylinders but swell gently about one-third of the way up before tapering toward the capital. This architectural curvature is entasis (called dōbari 胴張り in Japanese), a structural refinement tracing its lineage from ancient Greek temples through Gandhara and Six Dynasties China (such as the Yungang Caves) across Korea to Asuka Japan, accompanied here by cloud-scroll bracket arms (kumo-hijiki) and broken-fretwork balustrades (manji-kuzushi).
Unlike standard Buddhist temple gates built with an odd number of bays (three or five) to leave a wide central opening, Hōryū-ji's Inner Gate spans four bays across the front with a column standing directly in the center, dividing the entrance into twin eastern and western passages. Flanking the gate stand the clay-and-timber Kongō Rikishi (Niō) guardian kings sculpted in 711, the oldest surviving pair of Niō guardians in Japan.
The oldest hall in the Western Precinct (five bays wide at 18.5 meters, four bays deep at 15.2 meters, and 17.8 meters high) features a double-tiered hip-and-gable roof supported by cloud-patterned brackets and four ground-level eaves pillars wrapped in carved wooden dragons. Inside sit the 623 gilt-bronze Shaka Triad by master Tori Busshi displaying the serene Asuka archaic smile, the 607 Yakushi Nyorai, and the ca. 650 wooden Four Heavenly Kings.
The world's oldest wooden five-story pagoda diminishes gracefully in width as it rises, with the fifth story measuring exactly half the width of the ground floor (a 10:9:8:7:5 ratio). Running vertically through all five tiers down to a foundation stone buried 3 meters underground (housing nested glass, gold, and silver reliquary vessels) is the massive central cypress heart-pillar (shinbashira) felled in 594 CE, which acts as an independent seismic pendulum that has kept the tower standing through more than 1,300 years of major earthquakes.
Surrounding the four sides of the central pillar on the ground floor of the Five-Story Pagoda are four molded clay grottoes populated by 80 expressive terracotta figures sculpted in 711: the East face depicts the philosophical debate between Vimalakirti and Manjushri, the North face portrays the Parinirvana of Shakyamuni with grieving disciples, the West face shows the division of the Buddha's relics, and the South face represents Maitreya's Pure Land.
Located 300 meters east of the Western Precinct, the Eastern Precinct was built in 739 by the monk Gyōshin over the site of Prince Shōtoku's palace. At its center stands the octagonal Hall of Dreams (Yumedono) crowned by a gilded bronze jewel finial. Inside its octagonal shrine stands the secret 178.8-centimeter gilded camphorwood statue of Guze Kannon, kept wrapped in white cloth for centuries until 1884 and revealed to the public only during spring and autumn viewing periods.
Opened in 1998, the Great Treasure Gallery (Daihozō-in) safeguards priceless seventh-century artifacts, including the 2.09-meter wooden Kudara Kannon, Lady Tachibana's Shrine, and the 2.33-meter Tamamushi Shrine (Jewel Beetle Shrine), whose openwork bronze borders were originally inlaid with iridescent green wings of jewel beetles and whose panels bear early lacquer paintings of the Jataka tale of the Hungry Tigress.
A defining moment in modern heritage conservation occurred inside the Golden Hall of Hōryū-ji on the morning of 26 January 1949, when an overheated electric warming pad used by a restoration copyist sparked a fire on the ground floor while the upper story had been dismantled for repairs. The blaze scorched the twelve early eighth-century paradise murals painted on the plaster walls (masterpieces often ranked alongside the murals of Dunhuang in China and Ajanta in India). Shocked by this cultural loss, the National Diet enacted Japan's landmark Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties (Bunkazai Hogohō) in 1950 and designated 26 January as Cultural Property Fire Prevention Day across Japan. The charred original walls and murals were chemically stabilized and preserved in a fireproof vault on the temple grounds, while the walls of the restored Golden Hall now display faithful reproductions completed in 1967 by fourteen of Japan's foremost painters, including Yasuda Yukihiko and Maeda Seison. Readers wishing to explore other monumental temples of Nara may also consult our entry on Tōdai-ji.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
In its original doctrine, Buddhism does not base spiritual liberation on geomancy, yet when Buddhism took root in Asuka and Nara Japan alongside continental scholars versed in Onmyōdō (Yin-Yang and Five-Element cosmology) from Baekje and China, the siting of palaces and monasteries in Ikaruga closely followed the classical rule of the Four Directional Guardians (Shijin Sōō, 四神相応). The section below offers a comparative reading of Hōryū-ji's topography through the library's traditional landform feng shui perspective.
In terms of macro-topography and the dragon vein (long mạch), Hōryū-ji stands at the verified coordinates of 34.61444° N, 135.73417° E along the northwestern rim of the Nara Basin (the ancient Yamato Plain). Directly to the north and northwest of the temple, the pine-clad slopes of the Yata Hills (Yata-kyūryō) and Mount Matsuo descend gently to cradle both the Western and Eastern Precincts, providing a sheltered rear backing (hậu chẩm) on the Black Tortoise side that blocks cold winter winds. Roughly 1.5 kilometers to the south in front of the monastery, the Yamato River (Yamato-gawa) flows westward to meet the Tatsuta River (Tatsuta-gawa) on the west and the Tomio River (Tomio-gawa) on the east. This three-river confluence curves across the fertile Ikaruga plain like a jade belt of water enclosing a broad, sunlit outer bright hall (minh đường) that gathers qi across the valley.
As for the facing and Yin-Yang balance within the inner courtyard, the main axis running from the Great South Gate through the Inner Gate to the Great Lecture Hall sits in the north and faces south (shifted slightly south-southeast during the late seventh-century rebuilding to hug the elevated contour of the Yata foothills, in contrast to the earlier Wakakusa-garan axis which tilted roughly twenty degrees southwest). Within the Western Precinct courtyard, placing the Golden Hall (a broad, low, earthbound horizontal structure embodying Yin and Earth) on the eastern flank (the Azure Dragon side as seen from the Lecture Hall) and placing the Five-Story Pagoda (a vertical spire soaring 32.45 meters skyward embodying Yang and Heaven) on the western flank (the White Tiger side) establishes a dynamic visual and energetic equilibrium between heaven and earth. Pairing the Western Precinct (the eternal sanctuary of the Buddhas) on the west with the Eastern Precinct Hall of Dreams (built over Prince Shōtoku's former palace) on the east further binds sacred Dharma and imperial memory across the landscape of Ikaruga.
VOshōryō-e memorial rite, opening of the Guze Kannon shrine, and annual ceremonies
As the head temple of the Shōtoku-shū sect preserving over fourteen centuries of Asuka and Nara liturgical music and ritual, Hōryū-ji observes a solemn annual cycle of Buddhist ceremonies, highlighted by memorial rites for Prince Shōtoku and the biannual unveiling of the secret Guze Kannon image in spring and autumn.
| Gregorian date | Ceremony or festival | Key traditional rituals and observances |
|---|---|---|
| 8 to 14 January (Gregorian) | Golden Hall New Year Rite (Kondō Shushō-e) | Seven days and nights of eighth-century repentance prayers and dhāraṇī chanting by candlelight inside the ancient Golden Hall for national peace and abundant harvests. |
| 3 February (Gregorian) | Setsubun Exorcism Rite (Tsuina-e) at the West Round Hall | On the eve of spring in front of the octagonal West Round Hall (Saiendō), three costumed demons in red, blue, and black are driven away by the guardian deity Bishamonten to dispel illness and misfortune. |
| 22 to 24 March (Gregorian) | Prince Shōtoku Memorial Ceremony (Oshōryō-e) | The monastery's grandest annual ceremony honoring Prince Shōtoku's spirit before the Shōryō-in, featuring classical Gagaku court music and masked Bugaku dances on a stone stage (held on a monumental scale once every ten years as the Daishōryō-e). |
| 11 April to 18 May (Gregorian) | Spring Unveiling of the Secret Guze Kannon Image | The first of two annual periods when the octagonal shrine inside the Hall of Dreams (Yumedono) in the Eastern Precinct is opened so pilgrims may venerate the gilded camphorwood Guze Kannon. |
| 16 May to 15 August (Gregorian) | Summer Monastic Retreat (Geango) Lectures on the Three Sutras | Observed continuously since 1070: monks gather for 90 days in the Upper Hall (Jōdō) to chant and lecture upon Prince Shōtoku's Commentaries on the Three Sutras (Lotus, Vimalakirti, and Srimaladevi Sutras). |
| 22 October to 22 November (Gregorian) | Autumn Unveiling of the Secret Guze Kannon Image | The second annual opening of the Yumedono sanctuary during the autumn foliage season, allowing devotees to behold the life-sized Guze Kannon associated with Prince Shōtoku. |
Every ten years and on centennial anniversaries of Prince Shōtoku's passing (such as the 1,400th memorial observed in 2021), Hōryū-ji stages the grand Daishōryō-e (Great Spirit Rite): a solemn procession bearing the Prince's phoenix palanquin (Hōren) marches from the Eastern Precinct's Hall of Dreams to the Western Precinct escorted by monks, celestial musicians, and masked Gigaku and Bugaku dancers, drawing Buddhist pilgrims from across Japan as well as Vietnamese Buddhist communities living in the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara).
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Getting there
- Located at 1-1 Hōryūji Sannai, Ikaruga-chō, Ikoma District, Nara Prefecture. From JR Nara Station or JR Ōsaka/Tennōji Station, take the JR Yamatoji Line to Hōryūji Station (about 12 minutes from Nara or 40 minutes from Ōsaka), then either walk 20 minutes north through the historic pine avenue or take a Nara Kōtsū bus from the north exit for 5 minutes to the Hōryūji-mae stop right outside the Great South Gate.
- Coordinates
- 34.61444, 135.73417
When visiting Hōryū-ji, please note that photography, video recording, and touching the 1,300-year-old cypress columns are strictly prohibited inside the Golden Hall, Five-Story Pagoda, Great Lecture Hall, Great Treasure Gallery, and Hall of Dreams. Because the temple grounds stretch nearly one kilometer along gravel paths from the Western Precinct to the Eastern Precinct, comfortable walking shoes are recommended, and visitors are asked to maintain quiet reverence near the monastic quarters.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for Hōryū-ji
Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Chùa Pháp Long (Hōryū-ji, 法隆寺)Everyone is welcome to enrich this page: a photo you took, a detail the page misses, a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
Thầy Ưng Khiêm mời cộng đồng cùng làm giàu trang này. Ảnh chụp tận nơi, một chi tiết lịch sử chưa được nhắc, một đoạn video ngắn: mọi đóng góp đều được đọc và trả lời.
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?Quick Questions
Why is Hōryū-ji recognized as the oldest surviving wooden architectural complex in the world?
The core buildings of Hōryū-ji's Western Precinct, including the Golden Hall, Five-Story Pagoda, Inner Gate, and most of the Cloister, date from the late seventh century to before 711 CE (the Asuka period), and tree-ring dating has confirmed that the central cypress heart-pillar of the Five-Story Pagoda was felled in 594 CE. No older standing wooden structures survive anywhere in the world.
Who founded Hōryū-ji and what imperial vow led to its creation?
Hōryū-ji was founded in 607 CE by Prince Shōtoku (574 to 622) and his aunt Empress Suiko to fulfill the vow of Prince Shōtoku's father, Emperor Yōmei (died 587), who promised on his sickbed to build a Buddhist temple and cast a statue of Yakushi Nyorai (the Medicine Buddha) to pray for recovery.
How has the Five-Story Pagoda of Hōryū-ji withstood major earthquakes for over 1,300 years without collapsing?
Standing 32.45 meters tall, the pagoda tapers markedly toward the top (its fifth story is half the width of the first), uses flexible interlocking timber brackets without rigid nails, and is anchored around a massive central cypress heart-pillar (shinbashira) felled in 594 CE that rests independently on a deep foundation stone and sways like a pendulum to absorb seismic shockwaves.
What is the secret Guze Kannon statue in the Hall of Dreams (Yumedono) and when can visitors see it?
Enshrined at the center of the octagonal Hall of Dreams (built in 739 in the Eastern Precinct), the Guze Kannon is a 178.8-centimeter gilded camphorwood statue carved to the life-sized proportions of Prince Shōtoku. Kept wrapped in white cloth for centuries until 1884, it is unveiled to the public only twice a year: in spring (11 April to 18 May) and in autumn (22 October to 22 November).
How did the 1949 fire in the Golden Hall shape Japan's heritage preservation laws?
On 26 January 1949, an electrical fire during restoration work scorched twelve priceless eighth-century paradise murals on the ground-floor walls of the Golden Hall. Shocked by the loss, Japan's National Diet passed the landmark Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties in 1950 and established 26 January as national Cultural Property Fire Prevention Day.