Todaiji Temple

Todaiji Temple: The Great Buddha Hall and Buildings from Three Eras

Todaiji Temple (東大寺, Tōdai-ji) is the head temple of the Kegon school of Buddhism in Zoshicho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, founded in the 740s around a colossal bronze Buddha; eight of its buildings, including the Golden Hall (Great Buddha Hall) rebuilt in 1709 and the Great South Gate, are designated National Treasures, and fifteen more, among them the Middle Gate and the Nenbutsu Hall, are Important Cultural Properties. The eye-opening ceremony for the Great Buddha was held here in 752, and in 1998 Todaiji was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.

The precinct spreads across the western foot of Mount Wakakusa. On the flat ground the Great South Gate, the Middle Gate and the Great Buddha Hall line up on a single north-south axis. The rising ground to the east, known as the Jōin, holds the Hokkedō (also called the Sangatsudō) and the Nigatsudō. Every one of these buildings belongs to the same temple, but the national government designated them one by one, so this site gives each building its own page and keeps the story of Todaiji as a whole here.

A Temple Built Once and Rebuilt Twice

According to the temple's own history, Emperor Shōmu issued the edict to cast a colossal image of the cosmic Buddha Roshana (Vairocana) in 743, while the court was at the Shigaraki palace. When the capital returned to Heijō-kyō in 745, the work resumed on the grounds of Konshōsan-ji, the temple that preceded Todaiji. The body of the statue was cast in eight pours over three years and finished in 749, the hall to house it went up two years later, and the eye-opening ceremony took place in the fourth month of 752. Todaiji honours four founders: Emperor Shōmu, the monk Gyōki, who rallied ordinary people to the project, Rōben, the first abbot, and the Indian monk Bodhisena, who led the ceremony.

In 1180 troops under Taira no Shigehira set fire to Nara, and most of Todaiji burned. The monk Chōgen, appointed chief fundraiser the following year at the age of 61, had the Buddha re-dedicated in 1185 and saw the new hall consecrated in 1195. The builders he led brought in techniques from Song-dynasty China; this approach is now called the Daibutsu-yō (Great Buddha style), and the Great South Gate is its best surviving example.

A second fire in 1567, during fighting between the Miyoshi and Matsunaga factions, destroyed the hall again, and the Great Buddha sat in the open for almost a century. The monk Kōkei won permission from the Tokugawa shogunate in 1684 to rebuild. The statue was re-dedicated in 1692 and the hall in 1709, but money was short, and the new hall was only about 60 percent as wide as its predecessors. The Middle Gate and the corridors took roughly another thirty years to complete.

Finding Your Way Around Todaiji

Most visitors approach Todaiji from Nara Park and walk north up the main avenue. The first structure they pass through is the Great South Gate, the temple's main entrance, guarded by two huge Kongō Rikishi figures carved by Unkei, Kaikei and their workshop. Beyond it, the Middle Gate and the corridors extending east and west from it enclose the Great Buddha Hall. The ticket gate for the hall is beside the Middle Gate, and once inside the corridor you face the hall head-on. Two gates known together as the Tozai Gakumon open in the corridors on either side of the Middle Gate.

Leaving the hall and climbing east brings you to the low hill where the Bell Tower stands; the temple places it between the Shunjōdō and the Nenbutsu Hall. Further east, on the Jōin terrace, the Hokkedō, which the temple describes as its oldest building, stands with its North Gate, Sutra Repository and Temizuya (ablution pavilion), and the Sanmaidō, better known as the Shigatsudō, faces it. A short walk north leads to the Nigatsudō, whose veranda looks out over the city. Around the Nigatsudō are the Akaiya well house, the Busshoya offering house and the Sanrosho lodging hall, and the Founder's Hall stands inside a white-walled enclosure below it, north of the Shigatsudō.

From the north side of the Nigatsudō, a covered stone stairway runs downhill to the west, passing between the Sanrosho and the monks' dining hall before joining a quiet back lane lined with sub-temples. The Great Bathhouse sits along this lane. Circling round behind the Great Buddha Hall to the west brings you to the Kanjinsho compound, the base for the Edo-period rebuilding, where the Kanjinsho Sutra Repository stands. The Tegaimon Gate faces Ichijō-dōri (the old Sahoji road) at the far northwest corner of the grounds, some distance from the Great Buddha Hall. The Five-Ring Pagoda stands apart from the main precinct, in Kawakamicho, Nara City.

Todaiji's Designated Buildings

The national government has designated 23 of Todaiji's structures. Dates below follow the Agency for Cultural Affairs database.

• Golden Hall (Great Buddha Hall): ridgepole raised 1705, consecrated 1709. National Treasure
• Great South Gate: ridgepole raised 1199. National Treasure
• Tegaimon Gate: Nara period, around the Tenpyō-hōji era (757 to 765). National Treasure
• Hokkedo Hall: main hall around 747, worship hall 1199. National Treasure
• Bell Tower: Jōgen era, 1207 to 1210. National Treasure
• Founder's Hall: 1250, with an inner sanctum of 1200. National Treasure
• Honbo Sutra Repository: Nara period. National Treasure
• Nigatsudo Hall: 1669. National Treasure
• Middle Gate: 1714. Important Cultural Property
• Tozai Gakumon Gate (West): 1719. Important Cultural Property
• Tozai Gakumon Gate (East): 1722. Important Cultural Property
• Corridor (east and west ranges, 2 buildings): 1716 to 1737. Important Cultural Property
• Nenbutsu Hall: 1237. Important Cultural Property
• Hokkedo Hall North Gate: 1240. Important Cultural Property
• Hokkedo Hall Sutra Repository: early Heian period. Important Cultural Property
• Hokkedo Hall Temizuya: 1335. Important Cultural Property
• Sanmaido Hall (Shigatsudo Hall): 1681. Important Cultural Property
• Nigatsudo Akaiya Well House (Wakasaiya): late Kamakura period. Important Cultural Property
• Nigatsudo Busshoya (Gokusho): early Kamakura period. Important Cultural Property
• Nigatsudo Sanrosho: 1277 to 1282. Important Cultural Property
• Kanjinsho Sutra Repository: early Heian period. Important Cultural Property
• Great Bathhouse: 1408. Important Cultural Property
• Five-Ring Pagoda: early Kamakura period. Important Cultural Property

Most of these were first protected between 1897 and 1906 under the Ancient Shrines and Temples Preservation Law, then sorted into National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties under the 1950 Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. Walking the grounds, you meet buildings from all three of Todaiji's lives in turn: the original Nara-period temple, Chōgen's Kamakura revival and Kōkei's Edo-period rebuilding.

Todaiji Opening Hours and Admission

The grounds of Todaiji are open to walk around free of charge, and there is no fee to pass through the Great South Gate. Four places charge admission, each separately: the Great Buddha Hall, the Hokkedō, the Kaidan-dō in the Kaidan-in, and the Todaiji Museum. Each costs 800 yen for adults (junior high school age and up) and 400 yen for elementary school children. A combined ticket for the Great Buddha Hall and the museum costs 1,200 yen for adults and 600 yen for children. Payment is cash only (checked October 2026).

The Great Buddha Hall opens from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. between April and October, and from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. between November and March. The Hokkedō and the Kaidan-dō open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. all year. The temple says it is open every day except during special ceremonies or emergencies. The Nigatsudō can be visited 24 hours a day, and its veranda stays open at night.

Casual souvenir photos are fine along the visitor route inside the Great Buddha Hall, but tripods and large group photos are not allowed. In the Hokkedō and the other halls, photography, sketching and flashlights are not permitted inside. Access details for each building are on its own page.

Getting to Todaiji

From Kintetsu Nara Station, Todaiji is about a 20-minute walk east along Noboriōji. From JR Nara Station or Kintetsu Nara Station, the city loop bus runs to the Tōdaiji Daibutsuden / Kasuga Taisha-mae stop, about five minutes on foot from the temple. The Gurutto Bus from Kintetsu Nara Station stops at Daibutsuden-mae Parking, right by the grounds.

Todaiji has no parking for visitors. The temple points drivers to paid car parks nearby, and Nara Prefecture opens free car parks on weekends and holidays during the spring and autumn peak seasons. Bicycles and motorbikes must be left at the bicycle park southwest of the Great South Gate; riding on the avenue between the gate and the Great Buddha Hall is not allowed.

Shunie and Other Ceremonies at Todaiji

The best-known event at Todaiji is the Shunie at the Nigatsudō, popularly called Omizutori (the Water-Drawing Ceremony). The temple dates its founding to 752, when Jitchū, a disciple of Rōben, first performed it. Its formal name is the Jūichimen Keka, a rite of repentance before the Eleven-Headed Kannon, and the main observance begins on 1 March each year. During the rite, monks carry great pine torches along the Nigatsudō veranda, and crowds gather below to watch.

Todaiji also holds the annual cleaning of the Great Buddha on 7 August and a lantern service on the evening of 15 August. The Founder's Hall, normally closed, opens on 16 December, the anniversary of Rōben's death, and the Hachiman-den and other halls of the Kanjinsho open after the Tegai-e ceremony on 5 October. Hours and access change on ceremony days, so check the Todaiji website before you go.