city that was the country’s pre-Kyoto capital from 710 to 784, the standout has to be the grand temple complex of Horyu-ji. Boasting the nation’s oldest five-story pagoda, which remarkably was dismantled in World War II to protect it against Allied air raids and then reassembled with the same materials after the war, Horyu-ji is also home to the equally important Kon-do (Golden Hall), a building believed to have been built around 670, making it the world’s oldest extant wooden building.
Horyu-ji was founded in 607, just 50 years after Buddhism first came to Japan, and its scale and splendor serve as a testament to how quickly and deeply the then recently imported religion rooted itself in Japan under the patronage of Prince Shotoku (574–622), the man who founded Horyu-ji. It was Horyu-ji that Shotoku used as a base from which to spread Buddhism across the country, and some of the earliest relics from that period of growth (some of Japanese Buddhism’s most precious items) are still kept at Horyu-ji’s Kon-do today.
These items include the original Medicine Buddha that Shotoku supposedly built Horyu-ji to hold and a bronze image of Buddha dated to 623. Yet the most revered of Horyu-ji’s images is elsewhere, in the 8th-century Yumedono building in the complex’s eastern precinct. This is the 178.8-cm (5 foot 10 inch)-high statue thought to be a life-size replica of Prince Shotoku, and which for centuries was kept hidden from all under a white cloth, only finally being uncovered in 1884.
Opening Times Open daily from 8 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Getting There Nara is 40 minutes from Kyoto on the Kintetsu-Kyoto Line’s Limited Express and can also be reached by JR lines from Kyoto and Osaka. Buses run half hourly between Nara Station and Horyu-ji. Contact Horyu-ji Temple: horyuji.or.jp Admission Fee Horyu-ji ¥1,500; Kofuku-ji ¥300.
12 Himeji Castle
The archetypal “White Heron” samurai fortress
Of the 142 castles dotted around Japan, none can quite match the majestic Himeji-jo, 50 kilometers (28 miles) west of Kobe. Just ask Hollywood. The distinctive white plaster façade and gray kawara roof tiles of Himeji-jo’s five-story main tower (the Tenshukaku) and its three smaller donjons have provided a quintessentially Japanese backdrop for The Last Samurai and the Sean Connery-era Bond film You Only Live Twice.
Originally built in the mid-14th century, then restored and added to on several occasions over the following three centuries, this imposing collection of keeps and turrets has been likened to a heron spreading its wings, earning the castle the nickname Hakuro-jo (White Heron Castle). But it’s a heron both cunning and virtually impossible to breach. Originally, the castle had three moats, 84 gates and a maze of narrow, zigzagging passages designed to disorient attackers while defending forces could fire upon them through the safety of 1,000 “loophole” firing windows.
As one might expect of a structure that dominates Himeji’s skyline, the castle is a focal point for many of the city’s main annual events. The Himeji Castle Cherry Blossom Viewing Fair and Princess Senhime Peony Festival in spring, the Himeji Castle Festival in summer, and the Moon Viewing Fair and Himeji All Japan Ceramics Market in autumn are all held on its grounds.
Alongside Himeji-jo’s moats you will find the splendid Koko-en Gardens, a collection of nine linked Edo-style gardens built in 1992, while within a short walk are two stunning examples of modern architecture: Kenzo Tange’s Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History and Tadao Ando’s Museum of Literature. The former is a minimalist tour de force of concrete and glass cubes by the man many consider the godfather of modern Japanese architectural design. Tadao Ando is the force behind many of Naoshima’s art galleries (page 21) and the Omotesando Hills urban development (page 31), and the Museum of Literature is an example of his finest work, combining rough concrete, water features and angular patterns, with Himeji’s defining structure–the castle–providing the perfect backdrop.
Opening Times Open daily from 9 a.m. to at least 4 p.m. Getting There Himeji can be reached direct by train from Tokyo in 3 hours. From Osaka it’s an hour on the JR Sanyo Line. The castle is a 15-minute walk from Himeji Station. Contact Himeji Castle: himeji-castle.gr.jp Admission Fee ¥600 (¥720 with combined Koko-en ticket)
13 Naoshima, Island of Art
Cutting-edge art installations on a beautiful island
Two decades ago, the Japanese publishing company Benesse Holdings and the Fukutake Foundation chose the picturesque island of Naoshima as the site for a project aimed at showcasing the best of Japanese and international contemporary art, including the iconic Yellow Pumpkin (pictured) by Yayoi Kusuma. The result has been a spectacular renaissance, transforming a sleepy fishing island into an undoubted high point on the country’s art scene.
The Benesse Art Site Naoshima (BASN) project began in 1992 with the construction of the Tadao Ando-designed Benesse House, a strikingly sleek beachfront gallery and hotel that today includes in its collection pieces by David Hockney, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol. That would be impressive enough, but on the sun-kissed beaches and wooded hills that make up Benesse’s grounds, there are also numerous outdoor art installations that for many visitors are the most memorable of Naoshima’s artistic offerings.
BASN has also had a hand in the island’s Art House Project, which began in 1998 and has seen a handful of the old wooden houses and an Edo-era shrine at the fishing village of Honmura converted into permanent art installations. Ando has also continued his involvement with Naoshima, designing the Chichu Art Museum, a cavernous concrete structure built into the island’s southern hills that opened in 2004 and holds works by Claude Monet, Walter De Maria and James Turrell. More recently, he was involved with Naoshima’s latest major gallery, the Lee Ufan Museum, dedicated to works by artist Lee Ufan.
Fans of the esteemed architect Tadao Ando should visit the Ando Museum, which features his signature use of unadorned concrete in a traditional 100-year-old wooden house, a fitting expression of his iconic architecture.
On Naoshima, there is art in unconventional locations as well. Inside and out, the island’s fully functional public bathhouse, I Love Yu (yu means “hot water” in Japanese), is a riot of pop art, mosaics and erotica designed by Japanese artist Shinro Ohtake.
The Naoshima Art Project is now extended to two other islands, Inujima and Teshima, offering a stunning look at some of Japan’s contemporary artists. Once on these islands, visitors, after paying an entrance fee to the art works, are free to walk around as they please. Against a backdrop of sea and sky, the airiness of the structures lifts the spirits, a soaring gesture into the future of art in Japan.
Getting There Ferries from Takamatsu (1 hour, ¥520) and Uno (an hour from Okayama; 20 minutes, ¥290) sail to Naoshima several times daily. Boats also go to Inujima and Teshima from Takamatsu on Shikoku and to Uno and Hoden on Honshu. Contact Benesse Art Site Naoshima: benesse-artsite.jp/en/Admission Fee Admission to Teshima ¥1,540; Inujima ¥2,160; Chichu Art museum ¥2,060.
14 Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park
A poignant memorial and a symbol of hope
Nothing has come to symbolize the horrors of nuclear war like the disfigured frame of the former Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Hall. Situated in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park, the Gempaku Dome (its familiar name) serves as a vivid reminder of the destruction that befell the city on the morning of August 6, 1945, when the 4,400-kilogram (9,700-pound) nuclear payload of the B-29 Super-fortress