But
now let’s leave the main compound of Hôryûji to visit an attached
building a few hundred yards to the east. This is the famous Yumedono,
of "Hall of Dreams", shown here in red. The Yumedono was conceived by a
Buddhist priest a number of years after the completion of the new Hôryûji.
He decided to build a special memorial to Prince Shôtoku on the approximate
site of what had once been the prince’s private palace. His motives are
unknown: perhaps piety, perhaps ambition.