Mitsutera
Edo-period wooden temple hall preserved intact beneath the floors of a modern high-rise hotel.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Mitsutera in Osaka opens with a wooden temple hall built in 1808 that survived the firebombing of World War Two, then in 2021 was slid across downtown Osaka on hydraulic jacks, millimeter by millimeter, so nothing inside would crack. It follows why developers moved it rather than tearing it down for a hotel tower, and what became of the Eleven-Headed Kannon said to have been placed here under an imperial order in 744. Engineers left a gap of just centimeters between its ancient eaves and the concrete around it.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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