In 587, the powerful statesman Soga no Umako was locked in a struggle with Mononobe no Moriya, who opposed the spread of Buddhism in Japan. According to the Nihon Shoki, Japan's oldest official chronicle, Umako made a vow: if he defeated the Mononobe, he would build a temple. He won. Construction of Hōkō-ji -- the original name of Asuka-dera -- began the following year, when Emperor Sushun's court invited monks and craftsmen from the Korean kingdom of Baekje: two temple builders, a metalworker, four roof tile specialists, and a painter. A nobleman's mansion in Makamihara, Asuka, was demolished to clear the ground. By 593, relics had been placed in the foundation stone of the pagoda's central pillar. By 596, the Nihon Shoki records, 'Hōkō-ji Temple was completed.' It was the first Buddhist temple in Japan to feature a fully-fledged temple complex.

The temple existed for nearly a decade before receiving its principal image. In 605, Empress Suiko issued an edict requesting the construction of a bronze Buddha statue. The King of Goryeo contributed 300 ryō of gold. When the 180-centimeter bronze was completed and brought to be installed in the Golden Hall, the craftsmen discovered a problem: the statue was taller than the door. According to the Nihon Shoki, it was placed inside 'without destroying the door,' though exactly how remains one of history's small mysteries. The Shaka Triad, as the ensemble is known, became the heart of a temple that functioned less as a place of quiet devotion and more as a research institute for Buddhist learning, drawing immigrant monks from Baekje, Goguryeo, and Tang China. The head priest Dōshō traveled to China and brought back Chan Buddhism, laying the foundations for Japanese Zen.

Asuka-dera survived the violent destruction of its patron family, the Soga clan, during the Isshi Incident of 645 -- partly because the imperial court had come to see the temple as too important to lose. Under Emperor Mommu, it was designated one of the 'four great temples' of Japan alongside Daikandai-ji, Kawara-dera, and Yakushi-ji. When the capital relocated to Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara), the temple followed, becoming Gangō-ji. But the original complex in Asuka lived on under the name Hon-Gangō-ji. Then came the long decline. The temple burned in 887. In 1158, facing famine, the monks sold a stone Maitreya Bodhisattva that had been brought from Baekje. Lightning struck again in 1196, destroying the pagoda and main hall. By the Muromachi period, the temple was practically abandoned.

Archaeological excavations beginning in 1956 revealed what the centuries had buried. The original temple complex turned out to be far grander than anyone had assumed -- not the simple Shitennō-ji-style layout scholars expected, but a one-pagoda, three-hall arrangement with a Central Golden Hall, Eastern Golden Hall, and Western Golden Hall, all enclosed by a corridor. The pagoda's underground core stone was found 2.7 meters below the surface, with a hole for the reliquary on the east wall. Among the excavated objects were beads, gold rings, gold and silver plates, miniature armor, and knives -- artifacts that place the temple at the boundary between the Kofun and Asuka periods. The current main hall sits on the exact site of the ancient Central Golden Hall, a continuity that spans fourteen centuries. The bronze Great Buddha remains inside, designated an Important Cultural Property, still looking out from the same place where Soga no Umako's vow took physical form.