Photos: Majid Abder Rahman · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Rijksmuseum · CC0 · Bamse · CC BY-SA 3.0 (3, 4, 5)
The main hall of Sanjūsangendō (Rengeō-in), about 120 m long, holds 1,001 standing Thousand-armed Kannon around a seated main image. Since 2018 every Buddhist statue in the hall has been designated a National Treasure.
Why it's unique
Nowhere else stands 1,001 such statues in one hall. Since the 2018 designation, the statues once on loan to national museums have come home, and the 28 attendants plus the Wind and Thunder gods are back in their Kamakura-era layout.
The hall is also an archery venue: the Ōmato contest each January descends from the Edo Tōshiya once held along this hall's veranda, and draws about 2,000 archers.
Before you go
A touch-panel terminal behind the hall lets you look up the name and face of any individual Kannon; most visitors walk past it. Shoes off; no photography inside.
Go on the Sunday nearest 15 January: the Ōmato archery contest, descended from the Edo Tōshiya held along this hall's veranda, draws about 2,000 archers including new adults shooting in furisode, the precinct is free, and the Yanagi-no-okaji willow-water blessing (said to cure headaches) runs the same day; expect long queues.
¥600 adults. 8:30 to 17:00 (1 April to 15 November), 9:00 to 16:00 otherwise; last entry 30 minutes before close; no closing days. A 7 minute walk from Keihan Shichijō. The official site's certificate chain fails some clients.
