Shitennō-ji

The five-story pagoda at Shitennō-ji reaches into the sky with a brilliant vermilion frame. Prince Shōtoku founded this temple in five hundred ninety-three, commissioning it to honor the four heavenly kings of Buddhism. While fire and war have forced builders to reconstruct these halls repeatedly over the centuries, they always followed the original sixth-century blueprints. A box of relics buried beneath the central stone pillar remains the only physical connection to the site as it existed when the first wooden beams were joined.