Ask whether the Great Buddha at Nara or the one at Kamakura is the bigger figure and the answer is already published, by the smaller one. Kotoku-in in Kamakura prints a measurement table for its own figure with Nara’s figures in brackets beside each row, and on nine of the eleven rows Nara is the larger. The two rows where Kamakura is the larger are both about the curls of hair on the head.
That table is the quickest way into Nara, because it settles the comparison and then leaves the practical questions: how big the hall is, when it opens, how cold the city gets against Osaka, and what the World Heritage listing actually covers.
Kotoku-in’s own table puts Nara ahead on nine rows of eleven
The Kamakura figure is a National Treasure, a seated bronze Amida Nyorai whose casting began in 1252. Kotoku-in’s page on its characteristics gives eleven measurements and, in brackets, the corresponding figure for the Todaiji Buddha in Nara.
| Measurement | Kamakura | Nara (as printed by Kotoku-in) |
|---|---|---|
| Overall height including pedestal | 13.35 m | 18.03 m |
| Height of the figure | 11.312 m | 14.98 m |
| Face length | 2.35 m | 5.33 m |
| Eye length | 1.00 m | 1.02 m |
| Mouth width | 0.82 m | 1.33 m |
| Ear length | 1.90 m | 2.54 m |
| Diameter of the mark between the brows | 0.18 m | 0.30 m |
| Height of one hair curl | 0.18 m | 0.21 m |
| Diameter of one hair curl | 0.24 m | 0.22 m |
| Number of hair curls | 656 | 492 |
| Weight of the figure | 121 t | 250 t |
Counting the rows is ours: Nara is the larger figure on nine of the eleven, and Kamakura is larger on two, the diameter of a single curl at 0.24 metres against 0.22, and the number of curls at 656 against 492. The eye length is the row where the two figures come proportionally closest, 1.00 metre against 1.02.
The weight row is the one that gives the clearest sense of scale: 250 tonnes against 121. Kotoku-in also records, on its page about the figure and the temple and citing the Taiheiki and the Kamakura Dainikki, that the hall which first housed the figure was damaged by great winds in 1334 and in 1369 and by a great earthquake in 1498, and that the figure has stood in the open ever since. That is why Kamakura has a Buddha without a building and Nara has both.
The seated figure in Nara measures 14.98 metres, and Todaiji publishes the same number
Todaiji’s own page for the Daibutsuden gives the figure’s dimensions independently of Kotoku-in, and the headline number matches: a height of 14.98 metres. The temple adds measurements Kotoku-in’s table does not carry. The eye is 1.02 metres long, the ear 2.54, the face 5.33, the nose 0.50 metres high, and the pedestal 3.05 metres.
Todaiji also gives the figure’s proper name, Rushana or Birushana Buddha, and explains it as the buddha whose light of wisdom and compassion shines everywhere. The 14.98 appearing on two separate temple websites, one of them a different temple’s, is as close to a double-sourced measurement as this kind of number gets.
The hall is 48.742 metres tall and opens at 7:30 from April to October
The Daibutsuden itself is a National Treasure of the Edo period, and Todaiji prints its three dimensions: 57.012 metres east to west, 50.480 metres north to south, and 48.742 metres tall.
Viewing hours are not a single figure. Todaiji’s hours and fees page prints two seasonal bands for the Daibutsuden: 7:30 to 17:30 from April to October, and 8:00 to 17:00 from November to March. The same page states that the temple is open every day unless a special event or an emergency intervenes. The band in force is the number that decides whether Nara fits into part of a day, because the same page prints three further bands, 8:30 to 16:00 for the Hokkedo and the Kaidando in both seasons and 9:30 to 17:30 for the museum from April to October against 9:30 to 17:00 from November to March, with last admission half an hour before closing at the museum, and none of those opens earlier or closes later than the Daibutsuden band. The Daibutsuden band itself moves by half an hour at each end on 1 November.
Todaiji asks visitors not to sketch inside the hall and not to use a torch there. Photography along the Daibutsuden visitor route is allowed, but the temple asks that group photographs not be taken and that tripods not be used, and that images of the temple not be put to advertising or commercial use.
The hall standing today is seven bays wide where the first two were eleven
Todaiji’s page is direct about what was lost. The Daibutsuden is the temple’s main hall, and since its Nara-period founding it has burned twice, in the Jisho and Eiroku conflicts. The present building was rebuilt in the Edo period by the priest Kokei.
The Tempyo and Kamakura halls were eleven bays wide, about 88 metres. Financial difficulty cut the rebuild to seven bays. The height and the depth, Todaiji states, are as they were at the founding, which is why the hall is shorter across its front than its two predecessors while still standing 48.742 metres tall. The temple describes the result as one of the largest wooden buildings in the world.
Casting the figure took three years and eight pours, and the eye opening came in 752
Todaiji sets out the construction sequence with dates. Work on the Rushana Buddha restarted in the precinct of Kinshosanji, Todaiji’s predecessor, after the court returned to Heijo-kyo in 745. The body was cast by eight successive pours over three years, finishing in the tenth month of 749. The Daibutsuden was built two years after that, and the eye-opening ceremony for the figure was held in the fourth month of 752.
The temple also records the damage afterwards: repairs to the figure’s back in the Heian period, the head falling in a great earthquake in 855, and the loss of most of the precinct to fire in 1180. The priest Chogen was appointed to the restoration in 1181 at the age of 61, recast the head and left hand with the help of the Song caster Chen Hekei, and held a re-consecration in 1185. The rebuilt Daibutsuden was dedicated in 1195.
January is the coldest month at 4.5 degrees, which is 1.7 below Osaka
The Japan Meteorological Agency keeps climate normals for a Nara station, number 47780, and an Osaka station, number 47772. Both tables run on the statistical period 1991 to 2020 with 30 years of data, so the two can be compared directly rather than estimated.
| Normal (1991-2020) | Nara | Osaka |
|---|---|---|
| January mean temperature | 4.5 C | 6.2 C |
| January mean daily minimum | 0.8 C | 3.0 C |
| August mean temperature | 27.8 C | 29.0 C |
| Annual mean temperature | 15.7 C | 17.1 C |
| Annual precipitation | 1,365.1 mm | 1,338.3 mm |
| Annual sunshine | 1,835.8 hours | 2,048.6 hours |
| Days with snow | 33.9 | 13.9 |
| Deepest snow cover | 3 cm | 1 cm |
The subtractions are ours. January in Nara runs 1.7 degrees below January in Osaka, and the year runs 1.4 degrees below. The January mean daily minimum is where the gap widens: 0.8 against 3.0, a difference of 2.2 degrees, which is the number that decides what a traveller packs for a winter day trip inland.
Nara records 33.9 snow days a year, against 13.9 in Osaka
The snow rows are where Nara exceeds Osaka by the largest multiple. Nara’s normal is 33.9 days with snow a year and Osaka’s is 13.9, a gap of 20.0 days by our subtraction. Depth does not follow: Nara’s deepest-snow-cover normal is 3 centimetres and its total annual snowfall depth normal is 5 centimetres.
The monthly rows put the snow days in January at 11.5, February at 11.8, March at 4.7 and December at 5.5, the only other entries being 0.2 in April and 0.1 in November. Nara also records 6.4 fog days and 23.1 thunder days a year, but both of those columns carry the agency’s @ mark, which its legend defines as a reference value that cannot be used for differences from, or ratios against, a normal. The Osaka columns for the same two elements carry no mark. Rain is spread rather than concentrated, with June the wettest month at 184.1 millimetres and July next at 173.5.
Eight assets make up the World Heritage listing, and two are not a temple or a shrine
Nara City’s own World Heritage pages state that in 1998 the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara were inscribed as a cultural World Heritage site made up of eight assets. The city names them as Todaiji, Kofukuji, Kasuga Taisha, the Kasugayama Primeval Forest, Gangoji, Yakushiji, Toshodaiji and the Nara Palace Site.
Six of those eight are a temple or a shrine. The other two are not: Kasugayama Primeval Forest is woodland and the Nara Palace Site is an archaeological site. That split is our count from the city’s list, and it changes how the listing reads, because a visitor who treats the eight as eight buildings will go looking for two that are not buildings at all.
The city’s page was last updated on 25 January 2024, and a caption alongside the list explains that its video was issued by the city in January 1999 to mark the inscription.
The city counts 343,514 residents, with 23,662 more women than men
Nara City publishes its resident-register count monthly. At 1 October 2026 the city held 343,514 people in 170,417 households, with 159,926 men and 183,588 women. The page carrying those figures was updated on 9 October 2026.
The two sex figures add to the published total, which is our check, and the gap between them is 23,662 by our subtraction. For a city of that size the practical point is the household count: 170,417 households against 343,514 residents means an average household just over two people, which is our division and not a figure the city prints.
For what the central temple charges at the gate, and why the age bands matter there, see our separate note on how Nara’s Todaiji charges everyone from junior high up the same 800 yen.
Sources Checked
Kotoku-in (Kamakura Daibutsuden Kotoku-in) — characteristics of the Kamakura Great Buddha
Confirmed the eleven-row measurement table with Nara’s figures in brackets: overall height including pedestal 13.35 m against 18.03 m; height of the figure 11.312 m against 14.98 m; face length 2.35 m against 5.33 m; eye length 1.00 m against 1.02 m; mouth width 0.82 m against 1.33 m; ear length 1.90 m against 2.54 m; diameter of the mark between the brows 0.18 m against 0.30 m; height of one hair curl 0.18 m against 0.21 m; diameter of one hair curl 0.24 m against 0.22 m; number of hair curls 656 against 492; and weight 121 t against 250 t.
https://www.kotoku-in.jp/characteristic.html
Kotoku-in — the Kamakura Great Buddha and Kotoku-in
Confirmed that the figure is a National Treasure bronze seated Amida Nyorai, that its height is given as about 11.3 m and its weight as about 121 t, that it is smaller in scale than the Todaiji Buddha in Nara, that the Azuma Kagami dates the start of its casting to 1252, that the original maker has never been identified, and that the Taiheiki and the Kamakura Dainikki record the hall which housed it being damaged by great winds in 1334 and 1369 and by a great earthquake in 1498, after which the figure stood in the open.
https://www.kotoku-in.jp/about.html
Todaiji — Daibutsuden page
Confirmed the hall as a National Treasure of the Edo period measuring 57.012 m east to west, 50.480 m north to south and 48.742 m tall; that the Tempyo and Kamakura halls were eleven bays and about 88 m wide and the rebuild was cut to seven bays for financial reasons while height and depth remain as at founding; that the temple describes the hall as one of the largest wooden buildings in the world and was rebuilt in the Edo period by the priest Kokei after fires in the Jisho and Eiroku conflicts; the figure’s dimensions of 14.98 m height, 1.02 m eye length, 2.54 m ear length, 5.33 m face length, 0.50 m nose height and 3.05 m pedestal height; the name Rushana or Birushana Buddha; that the body was cast in eight pours over three years, completed in the tenth month of 749, with the hall built two years later and the eye-opening ceremony held in the fourth month of 752; that the head fell in an earthquake in 855 and most of the precinct burned in 1180; that Chogen was appointed to the restoration in 1181 at 61, recast the head and left hand with the Song caster Chen Hekei and held a re-consecration in 1185, with the rebuilt hall dedicated in 1195; and the requests not to sketch or use a torch inside, not to take group photographs or use tripods, and not to put images to advertising or commercial use.
https://www.todaiji.or.jp/information/daibutsuden/
Japan Meteorological Agency — climate normals by year and month, Nara station 47780
Confirmed the statistical period 1991 to 2020 and 30 years of data in every column; the January mean 4.5 C, January mean daily minimum 0.8 C, August mean 27.8 C, annual mean 15.7 C, annual precipitation 1,365.1 mm, annual sunshine 1,835.8 hours, 33.9 snow days, 3 cm deepest snow cover, 5 cm annual snowfall depth, 6.4 fog days and 23.1 thunder days with the @ reference-value mark on both of those columns, June precipitation 184.1 mm and July 173.5 mm, and monthly snow days of 11.5, 11.8, 4.7 and 5.5 in January, February, March and December with 0.2 in April and 0.1 in November.
https://www.data.jma.go.jp/stats/etrn/view/nml_sfc_ym.php?prec_no=64&block_no=47780
Japan Meteorological Agency — climate normals by year and month, Osaka station 47772
Confirmed the statistical period 1991 to 2020 and 30 years of data in every column; the January mean 6.2 C, January mean daily minimum 3.0 C, August mean 29.0 C, annual mean 17.1 C, annual precipitation 1,338.3 mm, annual sunshine 2,048.6 hours, 13.9 snow days, 1 cm deepest snow cover, and no @ mark on the fog or thunder columns.
https://www.data.jma.go.jp/stats/etrn/view/nml_sfc_ym.php?prec_no=62&block_no=47772
Nara City — World Heritage, Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara
Confirmed the 1998 inscription of a site made up of eight assets, named as Todaiji, Kofukuji, Kasuga Taisha, the Kasugayama Primeval Forest, Gangoji, Yakushiji, Toshodaiji and the Nara Palace Site; the caption stating that the page’s video was issued by the city in January 1999 to mark the inscription; that the page carries no note about the nomination document; and the page update date of 25 January 2024.
https://www.city.nara.lg.jp/site/world-heritage/index.html
Todaiji — opening hours and admission
Confirmed the two seasonal bands for the Daibutsuden, 7:30 to 17:30 from April to October and 8:00 to 17:00 from November to March, the further bands of 8:30 to 16:00 for the Hokkedo and the Kaidando in both seasons and 9:30 to 17:30 for the museum from April to October against 9:30 to 17:00 from November to March with last admission at 17:00 and 16:30, and the note that the temple is open every day unless there is a special event or an emergency.
https://www.todaiji.or.jp/information/haikan/
Nara City — population of Nara City, resident register
Confirmed that at 1 October 2026 the city held 343,514 residents, 159,926 men, 183,588 women and 170,417 households, on a page updated 9 October 2026.
https://www.city.nara.lg.jp/soshiki/7/228791.html
Last updated: October 2026
