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Sanjusangendo

Magnificent All-wooden Building

Sanjusangendo, originally known as Rengeo-in Temple, is located south of the Kyoto National Museum and is a national treasure of Japan. It was rebuilt in 1266 and was named after the 33-room-wide Main Hall, which is dedicated to 1,001 statues of the Thousand-armed Kannon, Fujin and Raijin.

The original name of Kyoto Sanjusangendo 三十三間堂 was Rengeo-in Temple 蓮華王院, located to the south of the Kyoto National Museum, and was built by Taira no Kiyomori in 1164 for the cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa, and was also used as the emperor’s detached palace, but was destroyed by fire 80 years later. The present Sanjusangendo was rebuilt by Emperor Go-Saga in 1266 and is rated as a national treasure of Japan.

Hondo, the Main Hall, which occupies most of the space in the compound, is 120 meters long and 20 meters wide, a wooden building of this size that is extremely rare in Japan and the world. The three-meter-tall statue of the seated Thousand-armed Kannon is enshrined in the main hall and has been also rated as a national treasure of Japan. On each of the ten steps to the left and right of the main statue, there are 500 standing statues of Thousand-armed Kannon, totaling 1,001 statues. Besides, there are statues of Fujin, the Japanese deity of wind, and Raijin, the deity of thunder, together with 28 guardian deities, each with different postures and lifelike expressions, which are also national treasures of Japan.

The name Sanjusangendo, the Thirty-three-room Hall, was given to it by later generations. According to ancient All-wooden Structure architecture, Room is used to describe the space between two pillars. There are 34 pillars and 33 rooms of the Sanjusangendo, hence the name. Besides, the number thirty-three is also the number of incarnations of Kannon in Buddhism, which has another deep meaning for the Sanjusangendo, where Kannon is the main deity of worship.

Every year around January 15, Sanjusangendo hosts events such as Rite of the Willow and archery tournaments, traditions that have existed since the early 17th century and are held at Open Space West to the Main Hall.