Daigoji Temple has maintained its status as one of Japan's leading Buddhist temples upholding the Shingon sect since its foundation in Kyoto over 1,100 years ago. Named a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1994, the temple is a veritable treasury of Japanese Buddhist sculpture, scripture, esoteric paintings and iconographic drawings.
A striking exhibition about Daigoji is now on at the Tokyo National Museum, featuring 11 national treasures and 73 important cultural properties. The show's centerpiece is the 176-cm-tall statue of Yakushi Nyorai (Bhaisajyaguru), the Buddha of Healing, which is the principal icon of Yakushi Hall, one of the temple's key structures.
A magnificent wooden sculpture covered with gold foil, the Buddha, a national treasure, is believed to have been created when Yakushi Hall was built on Kasatoriyama Hill in Kyoto's Fushimi Ward by order of Emperor Daigo in the early 10th century.