Hokoji Temple Great Buddha Hall

Toyotomi Hideyoshi built the Great Buddha Hall at Hokoji in the 1580s as a deliberate rival to Nara's Todaiji, intending to signal national unification through sheer scale. At 90 meters wide, it was the largest building completed in Japan at the time. Earthquakes destroyed and delayed the project, and it was never fully restored after Hideyoshi's death. What remains today includes the original temple bell, several statues, and a massive stone wall that conveys the scale of what once stood here.