Kōfuku-ji Temple

Welcome to Kofuku-ji, or Ko-foo-koo-jee, one of the 'Seven Great Temples' of Nara and a cornerstone of Japanese Buddhist history. As you step onto these grounds, you are entering the spiritual home of the Fujiwara clan, arguably…

The five-story pagoda of Kofuku-ji, or Go-joo-no-toh, is perhaps the most recognizable landmark in Nara. Standing at fifty meters, it is the second tallest wooden pagoda in Japan, surpassed only by the one at To-ji in Kyoto. …

The Central Golden Hall, or Choo-kon-do, is the spiritual heart of Kofuku-ji. The magnificent building you see today was completed in twenty-eighteen, marking the end of a three-hundred-year period during which the temple lacked…

Located to the east of the central hall, the Eastern Golden Hall, or To-kon-do, is another designated National Treasure. The current structure was built in fourteen hundred and fifteen, but the hall itself was first established…

The Kofuku-ji National Treasure Hall, or Ko-koo-ho-kan, is essentially one of the most important museums of Buddhist art in the world. It stands on the site of the temple's former refectory, where the monks once gathered for…

On the western edge of the temple grounds stands the Nan-en-do, or Southern Octagonal Hall. This elegant building is the ninth station on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, a thirty-three-temple route dedicated to the Bodhisattva of…

As you walk toward the southern edge of the main courtyard, you may notice a series of large, flat stones embedded in the ground. These are the foundations of the Nandaimon, or Great South Gate, which was once the grand…

Our exploration of Kofuku-ji concludes back in the center of the temple grounds, where the old and the new coexist in a delicate balance. We have seen the towering pagoda that has survived centuries of turmoil, the newly restored…