As with all of Tokyo, there are a mass of people screaming and eating and buying China produced goods less than 100 yards away but in the presence of Buddha in temple gardens the madness always feels miles away.

Todai-ji Temple, along with having sacred deer running free on the grounds, houses the world’s largest Vairocana Buddha (also Japan’s largest bronze Buddha) in the world’s largest wooden building.

And having been built in 752 AD it is also the oldest building I’ve ever visited. That kind of age is almost incomprehensible to me.

Since there’s nothing to compare against in this picture, the Great Buddha is just over 49 feet tall and weighs over 500 tons.