a five story pagoda, Daigoji Temple

This five-story pagoda is in temple and was made for storing a tiny piece, a drop of swallow's tears in Japanese, of Buddha's bone. This kind of the tower came from China about 1,500 years ago.

This pagoda was made about 1,000 years ago and one of greatest pagodas in Japan, feeling the power of ancient times and the elegance of the medieval times.

By the way, Japan has had many big earthquakes but they have failed to destroy the pagodas. There are many reasons why the pagoda never fall down by the earthquakes. One of them is that no nails is driven into the framework of the structure. The joints of the main parts of the structure are connected just like pieces of three dimensional jigsaw puzzle. As time passes, the wood has shrunk to some degrees and small gaps between the joints come into being. The gaps and the pliability of wood can absorb the shock of earthquakes.

Cut-down wood for building the structure is needed to be left outside or in the warehouse for some years to go off water inside the wood. If wood is used just after cutting down, the wood shrinks very much after the construction.

Round wood will be cracked if they are left outside for a long time. To avoid the crack, surprisingly, it is best for round woods to be stored into the water. After stored into the water for four or five years, the wood will have less cracks, have better quality, and water goes off from it more smooth. Plus, the color of the wood will be nice and the wood will emit a nicely odor.