Toshodai-ji was built in 759 by the Chinese priest Ganjin. He was invited by Japan's Emperor to teach the Chinese Buddhist precepts. It took him twelve years, five unsuccessful crossing the sea, and bouts of illness that finally left him blind before he finally arrived at Nara in 754. Before his death in 763 Ganjin's disciples carved his statue of lacquered wood. Public can see this image only once a year, on June 6.