Byodoin, Uji-shi, near Kyoto – One of the oldest Japanese temples

Byodoin is a really popular Buddhist temple located in Uji. This temple has been labeled a World Heritage Site and also a National Treasure. The structure is featured on the local ¥10 coin. This temple was initially a private residence, just like most temples of Japan and it was built in the year 998 AD in the Heian period. It was later converted into a temple by a Fujiwara clan member in 1052. In 1053, the Phoenix Hall was included to house the image of Amida Buddha.

The complex of the temple was really big initially but then most of the buildings around it were razed in the 1336 civil war. The beach of the pond originally stretched all the way up to the Uji River. There were mountains on the rivers opposite site that served as a background. The area around the temple is quite scenic and it represented Western Paradise or Pure Land on the earth.

All that remains today is the Phoenix Hall and Byodin is a temple which is one of the few examples of the Japanese Heian temple architecture. This country reiterates the significance of this temple by engraving its picture on the coin on ten yen. There are not a lot of national treasures in the country of Japan like the Phoenix Hall and the great statue of Amida located inside it. Japanese are not the only ones who treasure the Byodoin; Hawaii built up a full-size replica of this temple in 1968 in O’ahu. UNESCO listed this structure as a World Heritage Site in 1994.

Amida Hall or Phoenix Hall is the most popular structure in the Byodoin. It was especially built to house the image of Amida Buddh. This hall has three wings which create an image of phoenix; a Chinese mythical bird. There are twin wing corridors on the central halls both sides along with a tail corridor. The hall’s roof is also surrounded by phoenixes carved out of bronze material.

Amida Buddha is located in the central hall and it is accompanied by 52 statues, made of wood. These are bodhisattvas’ statues and they are seen either dancing on the clouds or playing some musical instruments. Golden Amida statue is located on the pond’s western edge and the most intruiging part about it is that this structure catches the first rays of the sun. There is also a temple bell of Byodoin, which is a very famous bell in Japan.