VR guide shows visitors lost scenes at Kofukuji Temple; Tourists can use smartphones to explore the original architecture of Nara Pref. Complex

NARA – A service called “Kohfukuji Temple Visual Guide” has been launched at the Kofukuji Temple in Nara, allowing visitors to enjoy a high-definition virtual reality (VR) recreation of the temple complex on their smartphones.

Currently, the temple’s five-story pagoda, a national treasure, is undergoing its first major repairs in 120 years and is covered in scaffolding, hiding it from view. The VR guide shows what the five-story pagoda looked like before the current work began, and what the temple complex looked like when it was first established.

When visitors use their smartphones to scan QR codes on signs at four locations on the temple grounds and enter certain keywords, the VR images appear, along with explanations about the history and highlights of the temple complex.

The signs are located in front of the South Round Hall (an important cultural asset), at the entrance at the northern entrance to the complex, in front of the administrative quarters and on the paved path in front of the National Treasury.

The visual guide reconstructs landmarks that are no longer visible, such as the Southern Great Gate, of which only the reconstructed base remains, and the Three-Story Pagoda, another national treasure, which was rebuilt in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) and has now lost most of the brilliantly colored patterns that were once painted inside.

Visitors can also use the guide’s augmented reality (AR) feature to take commemorative photos with the five-story pagoda as it was before the repair work in the background.

The service is available in Japanese and English. Tourists from Japan and abroad are already touring the temple grounds with their smartphones in hand and comparing the actual landscape with the VR images. A 55-year-old male office worker from Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, said: “The guide is easy to view and understand. I was also able to see the pagoda, even though it is under construction.”