is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It was founded by Emperor Jomei in 639 as one of the first official temples in Japan at the capital of Asuka-kyà  and was subsequent relocated to Heijà Â-kyà  with the relocation of the capital, where it became one of the Seven Great Temples of Nara, Japan. It subsequently fell into decline and now is only a small fragment of its former size and importance. Its former precincts were designated a National Historic Site in 1929.
The history of this temple is based on the Daianji Garan Engi and Ruki Shizaichà  (Daianji Zaichà Â) from 747 and the Nihon Shoki and Shoku Nihongi. According to these, when Prince Tamura (later Emperor Jomei) visited the sick Prince Shà Âtoku, he asked him to rebuild the Kumagoi Seisha as an official temple. By tradition, the Kumagoi Seisha was located in what is now Yamatokà Âriyama, and corresponds to the ruins of Nukata-dera.
Prince Tamura, following the wishes of the prince, began building a large palace and a large temple on the banks of the Kudara River in 639. This was called the and is regarded as the first official temple in Japan. The exact location of this temple was unknown for many years, and numerous locations have been proposed; however, in 1997 the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties announced that the Kibi-ike temple ruins southwest of Sakurai, Nara were verified as the location of Kudara-no-à Âdera. These temple ruins are located to the east of the Fujiwara-kyà  palace ruins. The Kibi-ike temple ruins had a layout patterned on Hà Âryà «-ji, with a main hall to the east and a pagoda to the west, and the style and date of the excavated ancient roof tiles suggest that this temple was built in the first half of the 7th century.
On December 17, 673, the second year of Emperor Tenmu's reign, Kudara-no-à Âdera was relocated and renamed the The previous year, Emperor Tenmu (Prince à Âama) won the Jinshin War, and the year the temple was moved coincided with the 33rd anniversary of the death of Emperor Tenmu's father, Emperor Jomei, and the13th anniversary of the deaths of his mother, Empress Saimei.
The Nihon Shoki and the Daian-ji Zaizaichà  (Record of Daian-ji Temple Collection) indicate that in 677, Takaichi-no-à Âdera was renamed . Construction the temple continued during the reign of Emperor Monmu (697-707). However, archaeological evidence indicates that the Takaichi-no-à Âdera and the Daikan-daiji were most likely two completely separate temples, with the location of Takaichi-no-à Âdera most likely to have been the Kinomoto temple ruins located northwest of Mt. Kaguyama and east of Fujiwara Palace. When the capital was moved to Heijà Â-kyà  in 716âÂÂ17, Daikan-daiji, along with Yakushi-ji, and Gangà Â-ji, was also moved to the new capital, becoming Daian-ji in 729. The ruins of Daikan-daiji are now a National Historic Site.
The Daian-ji temple complex was almost complete by around 738, except for the eastern and western pagodas. The eastern pagoda was built in the latter half of the Nara period, and the western pagoda was built between the end of the Nara period and the beginning of the Heian period, making it the last of the main temple buildings. Unlike Daikandai-ji, where the pagodas were nine-story structures, the pagodas at Daian-ji were built as seven-story structures. Heijà Â-kyà  was laid out in a grid pattern with a street every one chà  (about 109 meters). Daian-ji extended over an area of three chà  east-west and five chà  north-south. The distinctive feature of the layout of the temple complex is that the east and west pagodas were far away from the main hall, and were built on the outside (south) of the Great South Gate. The Sugiyama Kofun located to the north of the temple complex was incorporated into the temple grounds.
During this period, Daian-ji, along with Gangà Â-ji, was one of the two major schools of Sanron Buddhism in Japan. Sanron Buddhism was established by Kashà  Daishi Kissà  (549-623) during the Sui dynasty. Dà Âji, a student of Kissà  and a monk who stayed in Tang China for 16 years, brought a new translation of the Golden Light Sutra, which was considered a scripture to protect the country, to Japan and was the head abbot of Daian-ji. According to the record for 747 in the Daian-ji Asset Register, there were 887 monks living at Daian-ji at that time and the temple played a major role in the development of Buddhism in Japan. Monks from Daian-ji persuaded the Tang monk Jianzhen and the Indian monk Bodhisena to come to Japan. Many of the teachers of Kà «kai and Saichà  were monks of Daian-ji.
After the capital was moved to Heian-kyà Â, Kà «kai was appointed as the head priest of Daian-ji Temple in 829. However, as Buddhism shifted its focus to esoteric Buddhism, centered on Tà Â-ji and Enryaku-ji, Daian-ji gradually declined. In 911 a fire destroyed many temple buildings. In 949, the West Pagoda was burned down by lightning, and on March 1, 1017, a major fire broke out, destroying all the buildings except for the honzon Shaka Nyorai statue (said by the twelfth-century Oe no Chikamichi in Shichidaiji Junrei Shiki to have been the finest work in Nara)ref name="Heibonsha"/> and the East Pagoda. The main temple was rebuilt by 1116, but it never regained its former size or importance. It later became a branch temple of Kofuku-ji. The aforementioned Shaka Nyorai statue was subsequently lost during the 1596 Keichà ÂâÂÂFushimi earthquake. By the Edo period, only a small Kannon chapel remained. The stone bases of the former twin pagodas were removed for reuse at Kashihara Jingà « in 1889, while the ruins of the other buildings lie in adjacent properties. The current main hall was built in 1922. To the south of the temple is Motoishiyama Hachiman-gu Shrine, a former guardian shrine, which was once within the temple's precincts.
The six of nine Nara period statues surviving at Daian-ji have been designated Important Cultural Properties. These statues are thought to have been made at end of the Nara period, but each statue is heavily damaged and most of the arms and other parts have been replaced. As no statues matching these names can be found in the "Daian-ji Temple Asset Register" from 781, they are thought to have been made after that time.