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Tōdai-ji Temple - 東大寺 (built 751 onward)

Buddhism gained a foothold in Japan after monks from the Korean kingdom of Paekche introduced the faith to the Japanese court. It quickly won an influential following, reaching the highest circles of imperial power by the 7th century. In 685 the Emperor Temmu ordered that every family throughout the land should establish a Buddhist Altar. His descendent Prince Shōtoku went further, decreeing that a national branch temple be built in every province. Two years later, in 743, he ordered the construction of a grand national temple to oversee them all. Tōdai-ji was the result.

Completed in just four years by 751, Tōdai-ji was truly a wonder of the world. It housed the largest wooden building the world has yet seen. Even the 2/3 scale reconstruction, finished in the 17th century, it remains the largest wooden building on earth today.

The construction of Tōdai-ji taxed the national economy of Japan so heavily that the kingdom experienced a rapid decline in the years that followed. More ominously, the national network of temples that Shōtoku established began to gather power that rivaled that of the throne. The court responded by leaving Nara behind, settling in relatively distant Kyoto where it resided for a thousand years (until the Meiji restoration). Nara's role was quickly eclipsed by the rising splendor of Kyoto.

Though the Tōdai-ji of today contains a number of buildings from the original construction, there has been a lot of damage over the centuries. The main hall burned twice: once in the Gempei war (12th century), and again in the late 16th century.