A sculpture based on the Kondo of Horyuji temple (located in southern Nara). The actual Kondo was built in Japan's Asuka Period, during the initial phase of the spread of Buddhism in Japan. It and the surrounding buildings in Horyuji are the oldest wooden structures in the world. They were built when the Emperor Yomei desired to build a temple and install a state of Buddha to bring relief for the illness from which he suffered, and this (dying) wish was carried out by Empress Suiko and Prince Shotoku in A.D. 607. In 1993 the buildings of Horyuji were listed as World Heritage, the first time a site in Japan was so listed.

During the Edo Period, an intermediate roof with shingles was added to the Kondo to give it better protection from the elements. The snow sculpture howver ignores this modern addition and tries to recreate the building in its original form with its entasis columns (columns with a slight convexity in the shaft similar to those at the Greek Parthenon). The two Nio kings (Agyo and Ungyo) were also depicted in snow.

The sculpture was built by the 3rd snow sculpting team of the 11th Division of the JGSDF, with elements from the 18th Infantry & 11th Engineer, and the 11th Tank & 11th Signal Battalions, all from the Makomanai base.

Profile: Height 13 meters, front width 24 meters, depth 25 meters. About 2700 metric tons of compressed snow (brought to the site in 450 six ton trucks) were required. Using the ice block method, 30 different types of blocks were used and the sculpters carved about 1000 of these before joining them together to form the sculpture. 4600 people were involved over 30 days.

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