Byōdo-in Temple
Heian-era temple pavilion shaped like a phoenix, its golden Amida Buddha and pond reflection built as a vision of paradise on earth.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Byodo-in Temple in Uji, near Kyoto, opens in 1052, the year Buddhist scholars believed marked the start of a degenerate age when devotion alone might no longer save anyone. You'll hear how the aristocrat Fujiwara no Yorimichi responded by turning his father's riverside villa into a working replica of paradise, and about the sculptor Jocho, brought in to carve its centerpiece. Stand at the edge of the pond and watch for the reflection the whole design was built around.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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