Temple of Sanjusangendo

Sanjusangendo is the popular name for the Rengeo-in temple in eastern Kyoto, which gained its fame thanks to 1001 statues of Cannon, the goddess of mercy. The name Sanjusangendo literally translates as “Hall thirty-three in length”. The measure of length used in traditional Japanese architecture is the distance between two adjacent pillars of traditional architecture (about 2 meters).

The temple was built in 1164 by order of Emperor Go-Sirakawa. In 1249, the temple complex burned down, and by 1266 only the main hall, which has survived to the present day, was restored.

All the statues are in the main hall, including the more than 100-meter-long statue, the longest wooden sculpture in Japan. In the center of the hall sits a huge Cannon, and on each side of it - 500 smaller statues, standing in slender rows, each in height.