Asukadera Temple

Asuka-dera is the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan with a full-scale temple complex, built in the late 6th or early 7th century at the request of Soga Umako, a minister of the Asuka period.

The present main hall was rebuilt in 1826 at the end of the Edo period (1603-1868). Inside the main hall, there is the oldest Buddhist statue in Japan, called the “Asuka Daibutsu,” which is the principal image of the Buddha and is a seated bronze statue of Shakyamuni Buddha.

This Buddha image was made in 609, at the beginning of the 7th century, and is 275.2 cm high, and is designated as an important cultural property.

This site is also known as the place where Emperor Chūōtaiō and Nakatomi Kamatari, who initiated the Taika Reform, met.

Asukadera Temple has several names. Its legal name is “Hokoji” or “Gangoji,” and the temple that was moved to present-day Nara City with the relocation of the capital to Heijo-kyo is called “Gango-ji.

On the other hand, the name of the small temple that still remains on the site of the Chukondo hall of Hokoji Temple, which was built by Soga Umako, is called “Anjoin. In “Nihon Shoki” (Chronicles of Japan), “Houkouji,” “Genkouji,” and “Asukadera” are used for the temple.

Although “An-uiin” is the official name of the temple today, the name designated as a national historic site is “Asukadera-ji Ato”.

There are various theories about how the temple was founded, which are described in “Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan),” “Genko-ji Temple Complex Enki Nararai Ryuki Shisai-cho,” as well as “Roban Ming” and “Joroku Kou Ming.

According to “Nihon Shoki,” Hoko-ji Temple (Asuka-ji Temple) was initiated by Soga Umako in 587, who prayed for victory in a battle against his rival Mononobe Moriya, and decided to build a temple in Asuka.

Asuka-ji flourished as a center of Buddhist prosperity and was the only temple in Japan at that time that functioned as a research institute for Buddhist teachings, and it is believed that it eventually came to receive patronage from the Imperial Court.

Even after the fall of the Soga family in 645, Asuka-dera Temple showed its strong relationship with the Imperial Court as the meeting place of Prince Nakatachio and Kamatatsu Nakatomi, and as the headquarters for the defeat of the Soga clan.

After the capital of Nara was moved to Heijo-kyo Capital, Asukadera Temple was also relocated to present-day Nara City and became known as Ganko-ji Temple.

The original temple, built by Umako in Asuka, was called Hongenko-ji Temple and was treated by the Imperial Court as second only to the Seven Great Temples of the Southern Capital during the Heian period.

Around the 11th century, however, Asukadera entered a period of decline: in 1196, the pagoda and Kondo hall were destroyed by a lightning fire. After that, the temple’s power declined, and after the Muromachi period (1333-1573), it was almost as if it had been abandoned.

As of 1447, the principal image of Asukadera Temple is known to have been a dewdrop. The details of its history for the next 200 years or so are unknown.

In 1632 during the Edo period (1603-1868), a temporary hall was built by a benefactor from the town of Imai, and in 1681, the monk Shuui built a hermitage and renamed it Anjyuin, where the damaged statue of Shakyamuni Buddha was repaired.

In 1826, the present main hall was reconstructed with the assistance of a philanthropist in Osaka, and the present Asukadera Temple was formed.

The present main hall of Asukadera Temple is exactly where Umako built the Asukadera Chukondo, and the main statue of Shakyamuni Buddha (Asuka Daibutsu), although heavily repaired, was found to be enshrined in the same place as in the Asuka Period, and was designated as a national historic site.

Asukadera Temple played an important role in the history of Buddhism in Japan and is a place where one can feel the long history of Buddhism.