Horinji Temple

Horinji Temple, also known as Miidera, traces its founding to either Prince Yamashiro in 622 or a group of monks from the ancient Korean kingdom of Paekche, with historical records supporting both stories. The temple once stood on a much larger scale but declined over centuries, and a typhoon in 1645 destroyed nearly all its structures. Only the Three-Story Pagoda survived and stood for another three hundred years before the temple was revived in the eighteenth century with rebuilt main and lecture halls. The complex now houses an Eleven-Headed Kannon statue, designated an Important Cultural Property, which survived all the destruction around it.