Todai-ji Temple (Great Buddha, Nara)

World's largest bronze Buddha statue (Daibutsu). 15m tall, 250 tons (cast 752 CE). Todai-ji hall world's largest wooden building (still), 57m wide—outperforms Fushimi Inari's main shrine in scale. UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ticket: ¥600. 3M+ annual visitors, 7% more than Kinkaku-ji. Located in Nara Park (surrounded by 1,000+ sacred deer). Day trip from Kyoto (75 min), Osaka (90 min), or Tokyo (3 hours).