A Photographic History of DaifukuDaifuku Conveyor Used During the Repairs of the Great Buddha Hall at Todaiji Temple

Located in Nara Prefecture, the Great Buddha Hall of Todaiji Temple is known as one of the world’s largest existing wooden buildings. While repairs were carried out on the hall in the early 20th century, the state of the roof continued to deteriorate, resulting in leaks and other problems. Consequently, starting in 1973, major repairs were carried out focusing on the roof. Over the next seven years, the repairs saw all 130,000 of the hall’s roof tiles replaced.

Safety was a major concern during the repairs as the roof was both high and steep with each tile weighing as much as 15 kg. Also, as the building is a designated national treasure, the work demanded great care be taken. This resulted in various technologies and equipment being employed.

One of those was our conveyor, which was deployed to transport the 58,000 roof tiles of the upper roof. The 4-inch trolley conveyor was installed around the large roof at a height of 37 meters. A carrier was placed every 3.3 meters on a 500-meter chain, and two roof tiles were placed on each carrier, which transported them at speeds of between two and six meters per minute.

Thus, Daifuku’s material handling technology contributed to the protection of an important cultural site.