Japan's No. 1 National Treasure ~ Sanjusangendo

type

status

date

slug

summary

category

icon

password

😀

Japan's No. 1 National Treasure, Sanjusangendo, is a Buddhist temple outside the Myojinkan Buddhist temple of the Tendai sect in Kyoto, Japan, and was honored as the No. 1 National Treasure because of the 1,001 statues of Kannon, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, enshrined in the hall, and because of the building itself, which is the “world's largest”. The total length of the hall is 120 meters, and it is an all-wooden structure with 34 rows of pillars dividing the hall into 33 rooms (each room is about 1.8 meters long), hence the name “Thirty-Three Rooms Hall”. In terms of the length of the building, it is the world's longest single wooden building.

This temple was originally built in 1164 A.D., but was destroyed by fire in 1249 and rebuilt on the same site in 1266, unchanged for more than 750 years.

On the left side of the lintel of the ancient 33-storey hall, there is a line that reads, “Tomoya Archery Ground”. On January 15 every year, the women's “Kaji Bow Festival of Yanagi”, also known as “Shinkai Bow Festival”, is held here. The girls stand at a distance of 60 meters and aim at a bull's-eye, and the one who hits the target with the highest score wins. This annual event attracts a large number of tourists from home and abroad, and the 120-meter-long corridor of the main hall is crowded with visitors, so if you are interested, you can come and watch it at this time!

Most temples and shrines in Japan have a hand-purifying pool at the entrance, and Sanjusangendo is no exception, so we hope you will purify your hands and mind and meditate on the Buddha.

After taking off our shoes and entering the hall, we will see the stunning main hall. In the center of the main hall, a superbly carved statue of the eleven-faced, thousand-handed, thousand-eyed Kannon is enshrined. The beauty of the carvings is mainly evident in the eleven faces and 40 gestures on the Buddha's head. The statue was constructed by master maker Chamkei when he was 82 years old, and is considered a masterpiece of the Kamakura period.

On each side of the statue, there are 500 Kannon statues (1,001 statues in total), all of which were carved from cypress using the “wood block inlay technique. Of these statues, 124 were rescued from a fire and are labeled as the works of Master Keipai in the Heian period, while the remaining 800 statues were restored over a period of 16 years during the reconstruction of the temple in the Kamakura period. These 1,000 statues of Kannon are similar in proportion to real people, and each has a different face, representing different incarnations of the Goddess of Mercy, with solemn, benevolent and lifelike images.

Higher up on the cloud seats at either end of the lobby are the familiar gods of wind and thunder. The sculptures are powerful and show the reverence and gratitude that the ancients had for nature and climate change, and were loved as deities that could dominate the wind and rain and bring about a good harvest. These two statues are also national treasures of the Kamakura period.

In addition, there are 28 statues of Guanyin in the temple, realistic, in the technique of cypress as raw material using the “wood inlay process” made of carving the hands and face of the statue of the Buddha, and then bonded together, and finally coated with lacquer and become. In order to make the eyes more realistic, the production process of inlaying crystals was adopted, which is called “Jade Eyes”. The exquisite carving technique is also amazing, and is an important reason why Sanjusangendo is the first national treasure.

Walking in this 120-meter hall opposite these 1001 Guanyin, you may think about the meaning of life, miss the deceased, remember the beautiful youth, at this time, it is suggested that you can walk out of the gate above, looking at the blue sky on the wide wooden floor, stop for a while, and then continue to walk forward.

💡

Traveling is not just about arriving at a destination and hitting a certain landscape in a certain season, but it's about feeling more, feeling the long-lost letting go and peace, feeling the long neglected heart, it's about listening more, listening to nature, listening to yourself.

It's relaxation, it's filtration, it's the power to make you happy and move forward with ease.

japan guides