Q.Just how big is the Great Buddha of Nara?
Published 2026-06-19
Answer
Even seated, the bronze Buddha stands 14.98m (about 15m) tall — roughly 18m if you count the lotus pedestal. The body alone is estimated at around 250 tonnes, and casting it took some 500 tonnes of copper. It is regarded as the world's largest bronze (cast) Buddha, and the hall that houses it is one of the world's largest wooden structures. Sources: Todai-ji official, nippon.com, and JNTO.
The numbers first: ~15m seated, ~18m with the pedestal
The Rushana Buddha of Todai-ji — "the Great Buddha of Nara" — has a body height of 14.98m (about 15m). That is the height while seated; standing, it would be far taller. Add the 3.05m lotus pedestal it rests on, and the figure you gaze up at reaches roughly 18m. The body alone is estimated at around 250 tonnes. A metal statue approaching the height of a ten-storey building has been seated inside its hall since the Nara period.
14.98m — Buddha's seated height (~15m)
approx. 18m — height including the pedestal
approx. 250tonnes — estimated weight of the body
Ears alone are 2.5m: the scale of each part
The scale is easier to grasp part by part. Each ear is 2.54m long — roughly a grown person's height (JNTO). The lotus pedestal the Buddha sits on is 3.05m high. Together with the seated statue height of 14.98m (Todai-ji), it's clear that every feature is built on the scale of a human body — or even a building.
- Statue height14.98m
- Pedestal height3.05m
- Ear length2.54m
| Item | Dimension |
|---|---|
| Statue height (seated) | 14.98m |
| Lotus pedestal height | 3.05m |
| Ear length | 2.54m |
The world's largest Buddha cast in bronze
Nara's Great Buddha is a bronze cast image — molten copper poured into moulds. Building it is said to have taken around 500 tonnes of copper, about 440kg of gold for the surface gilding, and roughly 2.5 tonnes of mercury to apply that gold. The Rushana Buddha is described as the world's largest bronze Buddha, among the largest cast Buddha images anywhere. Its eye-opening ceremony — marking completion — was held in 752, after about nine years of work. Sources: nippon.com and JNTO.
approx. 500tonnes of copper used
approx. 440kg of gold for gilding
752year of the eye-opening (completion)
The hall, too, is among the world's largest wooden buildings
The hall housing this Buddha, the Daibutsuden, measures 57.012m wide, 50.480m deep and 48.742m tall. Todai-ji's official site calls it "the largest wooden structure in the world," and JNTO likewise ranks it among the world's largest wooden buildings. The current hall is a 1709 (Edo-period) rebuild, its width reduced to about two-thirds of the original ~86m — yet it remains one of the largest anywhere. Dimensions from Todai-ji's official (English) site.
57.012m — width of the Great Buddha Hall
50.480m — depth of the hall
48.742m — height of the hall
| Measure | Current hall (rebuilt 1709) |
|---|---|
| Width | 57.012m |
| Depth | 50.480m |
| Height | 48.742m |
| Original width | ~86m (now about two-thirds) |