Todai-ji Temple

▶ History of Tōdai-ji
Tōdai-ji traces its origins to a mountain hermitage built in Shinkei 5 (728) to pray for the repose of Prince Mototsune, the crown prince of Emperor Shōmu. This later became Kinjō-san-ji, and in Tenpyō 13 (741), when an imperial decree was issued for the establishment of provincial temples and provincial nunnery temples (Kokubunji and Kokubun-niji), Kinjō-san-ji was elevated and became the Yamato Provincial Temple, Kōmyō-ji, the predecessor of Tōdai-ji. In Tenpyō 15 (743), an imperial order was issued to create the great Vairocana Buddha, and when the capital returned to Heijō from Shigaraki (now Shigaraki-chō, Kōka City, Shiga Prefecture), work began on the statue at Kōmyō-ji in Yamato Province. The Buddha’s body was cast in Tenpyō 21 (749), and construction of the Great Buddha Hall advanced at the same time. A grand eye-opening ceremony was held in Tenpyō Shōhō 4 (752). Thereafter, the West Pagoda, East Pagoda, Lecture Hall, and the three-sided monks’ quarters were built by the Office for the Construction of Tōdai-ji, and the seven-hall temple compound gradually took shape.
As a provincial temple, Tōdai-ji was a place of prayer for peace throughout the realm and the prosperity of all people. At the same time, it also served to study Buddhist doctrine and train learned monks, and research institutions for various schools were established, including Kegon and the six schools of the Nara period, as well as Tendai and Shingon in the Heian period. Thus it became an academic temple where the eight schools were studied together.
After the Heian period began, the Great Buddha’s head, which had fallen in the great earthquake of Jōwa 2 (855), was repaired by Prince Shinnyo, but fires and lightning strikes destroyed the Lecture Hall, the three-sided monks’ quarters, and the West Pagoda, while the South Gate and the Great Bell Tower also collapsed. Moreover, in Jishō 4 (1180), most of the temple compound, including the Great Buddha Hall, was burned by the forces of Taira no Shigehira. The following year, however, reconstruction was undertaken by Shunjōbō Chōgen, and in Bunji 1 (1185) an eye-opening ceremony for the Great Buddha was conducted with Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa as the officiant. When Suō Province was assigned as a funding estate for Tōdai-ji construction in Bunji 2, the restoration proceeded steadily, and the Great Buddha Hall was completed and consecrated in Kenkyū 6 (1195). With this rebuilding, educational activities that had been sluggish also revived, and many learned monks emerged in the Kamakura period.
However, in Eiroku 10 (1567), the Miyoshi-Matsunaga conflict broke out, and Tōdai-ji was reduced to ashes, leaving only a few buildings such as Nigatsu-dō, Hokke-dō, Nandaimon, Tengaimon, Shōsō-in, and the bell tower. Since this was the Sengoku period, restoration proved extremely difficult, and the Buddha head of the Great Buddha could only be roughly repaired by being covered with copper plates. It was only after the start of the Edo period that Shōnin Kōkei appealed to the shogunate for support from all over the country and from various daimyōs, and restoration began. As a result, the eye-opening ceremony for the Great Buddha was held in Genroku 5 (1692), and the consecration of the Great Buddha Hall in Hōei 6 (1709). Thereafter, improvements to the temple compound continued under successive chief fundraisers.
In the Meiji period, the separation of Shinto and Buddhism and the confiscation of temple and shrine lands threatened Tōdai-ji’s very existence and forced reforms such as officially identifying it as a Kegon sect temple. Even so, it continued efforts to maintain the temple buildings, including major repairs to the Great Buddha Hall in the Meiji and Shōwa periods, and has survived to the present day. Because of its history, Tōdai-ji preserves many precious cultural assets. It is also a treasure house of traditional Buddhist rituals, beginning with the Shuni-e ceremony at Nigatsu-dō, and every year many visitors come to worship not only from all over Japan but also from around the world.

▶ Founded in the Nara Period — Emperor Shōmu’s Vision —
The treasured items of Emperor Shōmu preserved in the Shōsō-in evoke the splendor of the Tenpyō era. Yet the political and social climate during his reign was far from peaceful. Power struggles symbolized by the Nagaya no Henk, the outbreak of smallpox that drove the brothers of Empress Kōmyō to their deaths, and the rebellion of Fujiwara no Hirotsugu in Kyushu brought more than a decade of upheaval. Emperor Shōmu must have strengthened his faith in Buddhism, believing that only Buddhist thought could heal such a world and bring security to the state and happiness to the people.
After Fujiwara no Hirotsugu’s rebellion in Tenpyō 12 (740), the emperor left Heijō-kyō and moved the capital several times. During this period, in Tenpyō 13 (741), he issued the decree for the establishment of provincial temples and provincial nunneries at Kuni-kyō, and in Tenpyō 15 (743) he issued the decree for the creation of the Great Vairocana Buddha at Shigaraki Palace.
The provincial temples were based on the Golden Light Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, while the vow to create the Great Buddha was based on the Flower Garland Sutra. As seen in the official name of the provincial temple, “Kokubun Shiten’nō Gokokuzan-ji,” the purpose was to pray for the peace and security of the nation and its people as a unit of each province. In the case of the Great Buddha, two years later, the scope went far beyond that, envisioning the Kegon world of perfect interpenetration in which “all living and non-living things will flourish,” and calling for the cooperation of people who wished to help create the image by donating “even a single blade of grass or a handful of soil.”
Since his visit to Chikushi-ji in Kawachi in Tenpyō 12 to worship the Vairocana Buddha, the emperor had deepened his understanding of the teachings of Kegon. In Tenpyō Kanpō 1 (749), he formally declared that the Flower Garland Sutra was to be the fundamental scripture.
After the return of the capital to Heijō in Tenpyō 17 (745), the construction of the Great Vairocana Buddha, resumed on the site of Kinjō-san-ji, the predecessor of Tōdai-ji, was advanced by the Buddha Workshop of Kōmyō-ji, later the Office for the Construction of Tōdai-ji. Through eight casting sessions over three years, the Buddha’s body was cast in the tenth month of Tenpyō Shōhō 1 (749). Two years later, the Great Buddha Hall was also built, and in the fourth month of Tenpyō Shōhō 4 (752), a grand eye-opening ceremony was held.
This great undertaking was made possible through the cooperation of many people, including Bodhisattva Gyōki, who mobilized the public for fundraising, and the first chief priest of Tōdai-ji, Rōben Shōnin. In recognition of this, Tōdai-ji is also called “the temple founded by four sages”: Emperor Shōmu, Bodhisattva Gyōki, Rōben Shōnin, and the Brahmin monk Bodaisenna, who served as the master of the eye-opening ceremony.

▶ Reconstruction in the Kamakura Period — The Efforts of Shōnin Chōgen —
In the Heian period, damage was already being seen on the back of the Great Buddha, and repair work such as piling earth behind it to prevent it from leaning was carried out. When the great earthquake of Jōwa 2 (855) caused the head to fall off, it was restored.
Meanwhile, the Great Buddha Hall and other temple structures were often forced to undergo repairs due to natural disasters and fires. To secure funds for such work and for the temple’s original educational activities, estates were operated during this period. But by the end of the Heian period, Tōdai-ji became embroiled in various disputes over these estates, and in Jishō 4 (1180) most of the temple compound was reduced to ashes by the military fire of Taira no Shigehira.
A major contributor to Tōdai-ji’s reconstruction was Shōnin Chōgen. Appointed to the post of chief fundraiser in Yōwa 1 (1181) at the age of 61, he devoted the latter half of his life to the restoration project for more than two decades, with support from Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Minamoto no Yoritomo.
First, with the cooperation of the Song dynasty caster Chen Heqing, the Great Buddha’s head, left hand, and other parts were recast, and an eye-opening ceremony was held in Bunji 1 (1185). Next, he struggled to secure timber for rebuilding the Great Buddha Hall, but after Suō Province and Bizen Province were assigned as funding estates for Tōdai-ji construction, the work progressed rapidly, and a consecration ceremony was held in Kenkyū 6 (1195). The following year, the attendant bodhisattvas on both sides of the Great Buddha and the Four Heavenly Kings were reportedly created in just six months. Thereafter, the various buildings within the precincts were rebuilt one after another, bringing about the temple’s flourishing in the Kamakura period.

▶ Revival in the Edo Period — The Achievements of Shōnin Kōkei —
Entering the Muromachi period, Tōdai-ji was no longer as powerful as in the past, and the fires of war caused by the Miyoshi-Matsunaga conflict in Eiroku 10 (1567) made matters worse. The Great Buddha Hall, the Kaidan-dō, the Jōdo-dō, the Tōzen-in, and the Shishō-bō burned down. The Great Buddha was repaired by Yamada Dōan and a temporary shelter was built, but the shelter was later blown down by strong winds, leaving the Buddha exposed to wind and rain for nearly a century.
The one who resolved to rebuild the Great Buddha Hall after seeing its tragic condition was Shōnin Kōkei. In Jōkyō 1 (1684), he petitioned the Edo shogunate for permission to repair the hall, and in Jōkyō 3 he began recasting the Great Buddha. The Buddha’s head and 18 lotus petals were recast, and an eye-opening ceremony was held in Genroku 5 (1692). At the same time, reconstruction of the Great Buddha Hall also progressed, but the economic circumstances of the time did not allow it to fully follow the scale of the Tenpyō and Kamakura periods. It was rebuilt in a reduced form, about 60 percent of the original width east to west, resembling the current structure, and a grand consecration ceremony was held in Hōei 6 (1709). However, it took another 30 years to complete the middle gate and cloister.

▶ From the Meiji Era to the Present
This world-class wooden structure survived without burning and entered the Meiji period, but it was badly deteriorated, with the eaves barely supported by auxiliary columns. From 1906, dismantling repairs began, and the work was completed in 1912 using new methods, including internal reinforcement with steel framing.
However, problems apparently remained with the roofing, and rainwater occasionally began to appear inside the hall. As a result, a major repair project was carried out over seven years beginning in 1973, and in the autumn of 1980 a grand completion ceremony was held.