The current temple is made up of two areas, the Sai-in (西院) in the west and the Tō-in (東院) in the east. The western part of the temple contains the Kondō (金堂, sanctuary Hall) and the temple's five-story pagoda. The Tō-in area holds the octagonal Yumedono Hall (夢殿, Hall of Dreams) and sits 122 meters east of the Sai-in area. The complex also contains monk's quarters, lecture halls, libraries, and dining halls. representative of the pure Asuka period style.[8]
One of the most notable is its layout. While most Japanese temples built during the Asuka period were arranged like their Chinese and Korean prototypes—the main gate, a pagoda, the main hall and the lecture hall on a straight line—the reconstructed Hōryū-ji breaks from those patterns by arranging the Kondō and pagoda side-by-side in the courtyard.[8]
The lecture hall
Another example found through the excavations at Yamada-dera, a lost temple originally dated 643, is the difference in the style of the corridor. Whereas Yamada-dera had thicker horizontal poles placed much more densely in the windows, those at Hōryū-ji are thinner, and placed at larger intervals.
On the other hand, major Asuka style characteristics seen in Hōryu-ji, and resembling designs found in the Yungang Grottoes (Northern Wei) are:
the railings, decorated with repeat-patterned swastika (卍字崩し高欄 manji kuzushi koran), and placed below are the inverted "V" shape support (人字形割束 ninji gata warizuka)
the entasis columns
The other notable Asuka style element that is only found in Japan to-date, and with the only surviving originals in Hōryu-ji is:
the cloud-shape hybrid bracket supporter (a 組物 kumimono (hybrid) of 雲斗 kumoto and 雲肘木 kumohijiki)
These Asuka characteristics are not seen in Nara period temples.