World Heritage site Toji is best known for its landmark pagoda, Japan’s tallest, but is also
home to a host of National Treasures. Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism and the monk credited with creating Japan’s syllabary, arrived here in the eighth century and set about creating a 3-D mandala to help people visualise his ideas. Even though much of Toji has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, the 21 Buddha statues of the mandala have survived and are on display in the Kodo building.