Kofuku-ji's five-story pagoda stands approximately 50 meters tall, making it one of Japan's tallest pagodas and serving as Nara's iconic landmark visible throughout the city.

Founded in 710 during the capital's move to Nara, Kofuku-ji served as the powerful Fujiwara clan's family temple, making it a center of both Buddhist practice and political influence throughout Japanese history.

The famous Ashura statue housed in the National Treasure Hall is so beloved that visitors often spend extended time mesmerized by its three faces and six arms, each expressing different emotions of youth and contemplation.

The temple offers seven different types of goshuin temple stamps, with visitors often collecting five or six at once, creating long morning queues at the stamp station.