Japan is the Asian country home to Hōryū-ji, the world’s oldest surviving wooden building complex.
Hōryū-ji is a Buddhist temple in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture. Its main hall and five-story pagoda are widely regarded as the oldest surviving wooden structures in the world. The temple’s surviving buildings preserve early Japanese Buddhist architecture and craftsmanship.
The complex is traditionally associated with Prince Shōtoku, who promoted Buddhism in Japan. An earlier temple on the site is believed to have been founded in 607, although a fire is recorded in 670; the present Western Precinct buildings were constructed afterward, largely in the late seventh and early eighth centuries.
Hōryū-ji is sometimes described as simply the world’s oldest wooden temple. More precisely, its distinction concerns surviving wooden buildings and a building complex, not necessarily every structure on the site. UNESCO added the Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area to the World Heritage List in 1993.