Zutō, Step pyramid in Takabatake district, Nara, Japan

Zutō is a stepped pagoda rising 10 meters high with seven tiers and stone Buddha statues positioned at ground level on each of its four sides. The structure uses earth and stone in a design that was typical of Buddhist religious buildings from that era.

The monk Jitchu completed the Zuto in 767, rebuilding an earlier three-tiered earthen tower from 760 that had been raised over a destroyed 6th-century burial mound. Jitchu acted under the direction of Roben, abbot of Todai-ji, to extend the temple's southern precinct. By the late Heian period the original purpose was forgotten, and a tradition arose identifying the mound as the tomb of the monk Genbo, whose head was said to be buried there.

The name Zutō derives from the older term Dotō, meaning earthen pagoda, and was later written with characters meaning "head" after a legend arose that the monk Genbō's head was buried here. The 44 stone Buddhas, eleven per face, are arranged in tiers; 22 are designated Important Cultural Properties. The south-face figures still sit directly on the earth, while those on the other faces are housed in roofed niches.

No reservation is needed; ask at Nakamurа Hyōguten, the framing shop just south of the mound, and pay the 300-yen management fee there. If the owner is out, the site cannot be entered. Special openings in spring and autumn also require no booking. The southern face's stone Buddhas sit directly on the earth, while those on the other three faces are sheltered in roofed niches.

Beneath the visible mound, excavations found an older three-tiered earthen tower built in 760, which had itself been raised over a destroyed 6th-century burial mound. Jitchū's 767 construction rebuilt the body almost entirely on that earlier base.