Sanjusangendo

The hall was founded in 1164, burned in 1249 and rebuilt by 1266, and it is 120 metres long - the name refers to the thirty-three bays between its pillars. Inside stand 1,001 statues of the thousand-armed Kannon in ten ranked rows, 124 of them saved from the original hall and the rest carved in the thirteenth century by sculptors of the Kei, En and In schools, each about the height of a person, gilded, with a large seated Kannon at the centre. The faces are individually carved and differ, and there is an old belief that anyone looking long enough will find the face of someone they have lost. In front of them stand twenty-eight guardian figures and the wind and thunder gods, which are among the finest surviving Kamakura-period sculpture. Photography is not permitted inside, which means the effect has to be experienced rather than recorded.

History

The samurai and statesman Taira no Kiyomori founded the temple in 1164 for the retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, inside the emperor's own compound - and won the title of Chancellor of the Realm, the first samurai to hold it; Go-Shirakawa was buried here in 1192. The fire of 1249 took the original buildings, among them a five-storey pagoda; Emperor Go-Saga had the main hall rebuilt from 1251 to 1266, and 876 new statues of Kannon were carved over 16 years by sculptors of the Kei, En and In schools to join the 124 saved. Through the Edo period the west veranda hosted the Tōshiya archery contest for 255 years, said to have begun in 1606 when a samurai shot 51 arrows down its length; today's Festival of the Great Target, on the second Sunday of January, draws some 2,000 archers (Wikipedia, Sanjūsangen-dō).

The main sights

• 1,001 Kannon - ten ranked rows of gilded standing figures, each individually carved.
• A 120-metre hall - thirty-three bays of thirteenth-century timber.
• Twenty-eight guardians - Kamakura sculpture standing in front of the ranks.
• No photography - the interior can only be seen, not recorded.

When to go

All year; early morning before the coach parties. An hour or two.

What to expect

Photography inside is strictly prohibited. The hall is dim, which is deliberate but limits detail. It is cold in winter, walked in socks on wooden floors. Coach groups fill the single walking route through the middle of the day.

Nearby

Kiyomizu-dera is east up the hill; the Kyoto National Museum is opposite.

Key facts