Here
is the other side of Shôtoku’s image, as an accomplished scholar
and dedicated sponsor of Buddhism. He is shown lecturing on the sutras,
and wears ceremonial court dress rather than a priest’s robes since he
remained a lay believer. This and all the other surviving depictions of
Prince Shôtoku are highly idealized, done many years after his lifetime.
In fact, all of the little that we know about him is based on records compiled
long after his death, when he was already a legend. But of one fact we
are reasonably certain: That in the year 606, he founded a great Buddhist
temple adjacent to his private palace. Let’s begin by taking a look at
the location of the temple that came to be known as Hôryûji.