Nara Basin

Chuguji Temple was a nunnery of which the abbesses were originally members of the Imperial family. The temple contains an expressive wood figure of Nyoirin-Kannon (6ft/ 1.8m high), said to be the work of Shotoku, and the Tenjukoku Mandara, a fragment of the oldest known work of embroidery in Japan (7th C). The mandara, originally 16ft/ 4.8m long, was worked by Shotoku's widow and her ladies-in-waiting and depicts scenes from life in the Asuka period.

The Hokkiji Temple can be reached from Nara by a train from the Kinetsu-Nara Station. This was founded in 638 by a priest named Fukuryo, who thus fulfilled the last wish of Shotoku-taishi (574-622). It is also known as the Okamoto Temple, after the site of Shotoku-taishi's palace where the temple was built. The three-story pagoda, dating from 685, is in the style of the Early Nara period.

The Horinji Temple was built in 621 by a son of Shotoku-taishi. The dominating feature of the Kondo (Main Hall) is the seated wood statue of Yakushi-nyorai in the Toribusshi style, influenced by Chinese and Korean models. The hall also contains statues of Kichijo-ten, Sho-Kannon and Bishamonten of the Late Heian period. In the Kodo (Lecture Hall) are painted wooden statues of the Eleven-Headed Kannon (16ft/ 4.8m high), Kokuzu-bosatsu and Jizo-bosatsu.