Photo/Illutration The octagonal Yumedono is one of Horyuji temple’s most impressive buildings. It was built in 739 as a memorial hall for Prince Shotoku Taishi, who once lived in this area and was the founder of Horyuji temple. It houses a life-size statue of the prince, Kuse Kannon, surrounded by statues of Buddha and various monks. (Photo by Lisa Vogt)

Imagine Shotoku Taishi (Prince Umayado) waking up from a very long 1,400-year nap. He yawns, stretches and looks around. It’s the year 2024. Would he know it?

Horyuji temple is the world’s most ancient wooden structure that survives to this day, essentially unchanged. If I were to pop in and say, “Hello,” I wonder how he’d react and what he’d say to me.

I’d invite him for a drive downtown, and we’d stop for a latte at a cool cafe. Would he want to go back to his quiet Ikaruga no Miya private palace in a jiffy?

Horyuji temple, also known as Horyu Gakumonji, the learning temple of the flourishing law, was founded by Prince Shotoku, the son of the 31st emperor, Yomei.

The so-called father of Buddhism in Japan, Shotoku Taishi built the temple to house a Yakushi Nyorai, a Buddha of medicine and healing, as it was the wish of his father, who died of an illness.

The temple consists of many structures and the most iconic of them is Yumedono, the Hall of Dreams.

Yumedono was built about 100 years after the prince’s death on the site where he resided. The octagonal structure looks like a miniature version of the Budokan in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.

The Budokan was modeled after Yumedono, of course. The eight sides remind me of the eight petals of a lotus flower and the Noble Eightfold Path. Perhaps it’s designed this way so that energy circulates like a spinning dharma wheel--all pure speculation on my part.

On top of the pavilion sits a wish-granting flaming jewel, a roban hoju. It’s believed to hold miraculous powers. Inside the Hall of Dreams is the national treasure Kuse (or Guse) Kannon, whose great power saves people who are suffering.

The 179-centimeter sculpture, carved from one piece of camphor wood and gilded with gold leaf, appears to have been made in the image of Shotoku Taishi wearing an archaic smile.

This statue is a hibutsu, a hidden Buddha, unveiled to the public for a short time only twice a year. This perhaps Shinto-influenced concept intrigues me to no end--divine things that are hidden and invisible yet do exist (or are believed to) hold tremendous power.

Yumedono is not just a building. It’s a sacred place where the past meets the present, dreams mingle with reality and human souls find comfort amid the fleetingness of everything.

The prince’s spirit lives on in the timeless sanctuary of the Yumedono.

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This article by Lisa Vogt, a Washington-born and Tokyo-based photographer, originally appeared in the March 31 issue of Asahi Weekly. It is part of the series "Lisa’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan," which depicts various parts of the country through the perspective of the author, a professor at Aoyama Gakuin University.

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