The temple on the 10 yen coin.

Have you ever seen Japanese 10 yen coin?

There's a quite famous temple called Byoudoin on one side. It was built in 1052 and people tried to realise the world in heaven there. In those days, the aristcrats were dreaming of going to the heaven by praying and by building the temples. At Byoudoin temple, there's one big buddhist statue called Amidanyorai in the centre of the temple.

The height of Amidanyorai is 2.5 m and it has got such a peaceful face. The sculpture on the ceiling above it is also splendid. In addition, there are many small buddhist statues around it. Some of them are dancing and others are playing music.

The aristcrats also tried to design the garden as the heaven that they were imaging. If you're tired of many tourists in the city centre of Kyoto, why don't you go there and have a look at the heaven that Japanese people were dreaming about 1000 years ago?