3x3 bay gate were sunk directly into the ground, rather than their being supported on base stones; similar sunken pillars may be found at Ise Jingū. The central pillar of the 3x3 bay pagoda rested on a base stone a metre below the podium on which it stood, as in the later examples at Hōryū-ji and Hōrin-ji. The base stones, uniquely carved with lotus petals, of the kondō reveal a 3x2 bay central core or moya and unusually narrow side bays. The base stones of the 8x4 bay lecture hall include holes bored for swing doors. The precinct itself extended 22 bays east to west, some eighty-four metres between the outer walls. In the 1982 phase, at a depth of 2.2 m, a large number of tiles were discovered from the site of the east corridor, including circular eave-end tiles of the "Yamada-dera type", deeply moulded, with eight double lotus petals and a ring of six seeds around the centre. Beneath, a 1.7 bay section of the wooden outer wall was uncovered, including base stones with lotus designs; columns, with marked entasis; base and head penetrating tie-beams; middle non-penetrating tie-beams; latticed windows; sections of lath for plastering; and bracket blocks. Additional elements discovered the following year include bracket arms, rainbow beams, rafters and purlins. Traces of red paint on the timbers and fragments of plaster were also uncovered. Further discoveries in 1984 included better-preserved windows and ground plates and pivot blocks for doors. The pillars are of camphor other than one of cypress, perhaps an historic repair; the other elements are largely of cypress, although one zelkova tie-beam again seems to be evidence of an historic repair; some of the wall laths are of pine. Statuary A bronze Buddha head, tentatively identified as that of Yakushi, is the sole surviving element of the principal triad of the former kōdō or lecture hall. The statue group was cast between 678 and 685. Appropriated by monks from Kōfuku-ji in the 1180s, it was moved to Nara and re-enshrined in Kōfuku-ji's East Kondō. Only the head survived destruction in the fire caused by a lightning strike in 1411. Subsequently deposited under the altar platform, it was rediscovered in 1937 and is now a National Treasure on view in the Kōfukuji National Treasure Museum. The work marks a watershed in the periodization of Japanese Buddhist sculpture. It is a "document of stylistic transition, embodying