Saiendo

Octagonal hall at Saikoji Temple in Nara, originally built in 718 on the commission of Lady Tachibana, mother of Empress Komyo. The current structure dates from 1250. Inside stands a seated Nara-period dry-lacquer statue of Yakushi Nyorai, the healing Buddha, one of the largest dry-lacquer Buddhist images in Japan. Octagonal halls were characteristic of Buddhist architecture in the Nara period, and this one is a rare surviving example. Each February, a demon-chasing ceremony dating to 1261 takes place here, with the god of war Bishamonten driving three demons from the temple grounds, armed with a pikestaff.