Sanjusangendo Temple is located east of the city of Kyoto. Which will have another name that people generally know that is Guanyin Temple 1000 hands, sure enough. After listening to the name, it should be known that the highlight of this place is probably Quan Yin. Inside the temple, there are as many as 1,001 Guju (Senju Kannon). This temple was discovered around the year 1164 when the temple was just found. Damage caused by a lot of fire Later, after this encounter, it was restored and restored to its fullest extent.

Not just having a large number of Guanyin enshrined in the temple If the inside of the building was built with wood, which is enshrined by the Guan Yin Guild, it is still considered the longest wooden building in Japan. The building is considered to be the oldest building in the temple, with an ancient construction style and still has a length of 120 meters, with 10 rows of statues of the Guanyin statues lined up. Considered to be a temple that believers in the Guanyin or want auspiciousness should not be missed in all respects.

Sanjusangen-do Temple

The temple name means literally “Hall with thirty three spaces between the columns”, describing the architecture of the 120-meter long (the world’s longest wooden building) main hall of the temple. Sanjusangen-do Temple houses must be one of the most impressive assemblies of statues in the world as well. The main image is of a seated Kannon bodhisattva, a masterpiece attributed to the sculptor Tankei, and one that is deemed a national treasure in Japan. Kannon is the bodhisattva of compassion, and the statue’s peaceful, benevolent countenance conveys this state clearly and movingly.

The effect is multiplied by the thousand standing statues of Kannon which fill the rest of the hall. Like soldiers of compassion they stand, flanking the main image in fifty columns, each ten rows deep. Graceful statues carved out of cypress and covered with gold leaf, each has over twenty pairs of arms and is responsible for saving many worlds. One hundred and twenty-four of these statues, saved from the fire which claimed the original temple in 1249, date from the temple’s founding in 1164. The remaining statues date from the 13th century.

There are also 28 statues of guardian deities with intense expressions and impressive detail. Overall, Sanjusangen-do Temple is a place for one to marvel at the beauty of Japanese Buddhist sculpture and surrender to the compassionate gaze of all those pairs of eyes.

Admission Fee: Adults 600 yen, Children 400 yen, Children 300 yen
Opening hours: 9:00-16:00（Nov.16 to Mar.）8:00-17:00（Apr. to Nov.15） Last admission 30 minutes before closing time
Closed day: None

How to get there:

By Train:

• walk about 5 from Keihan Shichijo Station on [Keihan Line]

By Bus:

• 3 minutes walk from Hakubutsukan-Sanjusangendo-mae bus stop [Bus No. 100, 206, 208]