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World Heritage: Kohfukuji Temple
Category: Temple

Kofukuji Temple
With a history of more than 1,300 years, Kofukuji is one of Japan's oldest and most prominent Buddhist temples.

It was one of the Seven Great Temples of Nara, which was Japan’s capital during the Nara period (710–794). Its history begins in 669, when Kagami no Okimi (d. 683) founded a Buddhist chapel, Yamashina Temple, in modern-day Kyoto Prefecture to pray for her sick husband Fujiwara no Kamatari (614–669). The temple was moved to Umayasaka in Nara Prefecture in 673 (when it was renamed Umayasaka Temple) and then to its present location after the capital was established here in 710. Backed by founding patron Fujiwara no Fuhito (659–720), the temple was renamed Kofukuji, the Temple that Generates Blessings, a reference to the Vimalakirti Sutra.

Kofukuji was established as a leading center in the Hosso (Ch. Faxiang) philosophical tradition of Buddhism. It was spread by seventh-century Chinese monks and holds that all phenomena are representations created by the mind that appears to experience them. The monk Genbo (d. 746) introduced these teachings to Kofukuji, where they have been transmitted and practiced ever since.