Sanjūsangen-dō or Rengeō-in

Sanjūsangendō (三十三間堂) is a Buddhist temple in Higashiyama District of Kyoto. Officially known as "Rengeō-in"(蓮華王院), Sanjusangendo belongs to and is run by the Myoho-in temple, a part of the Tendai school of Buddhism. The temple name literally means Hall with thirty three spaces between columns, describing the architecture of the long main hall of the temple.

Rengeō-in induces an almost hallucinatory effect on its visitors who, once inside its elongated main hall, find themselves face to face with ranks of nearly identical Kannon (goddess of mercy) images - 1,001 of them to be precise - all glimmering in the dark. The effect is magical, and a bit eerie.

Taira no Kiyomori completed the temple under order of Emperor Go-Shirakawa in 1164. The temple complex suffered a fire in 1249 and only the main hall was rebuilt in 1266. Sanjusangen-do is the longest wooden structure in the world.

The main deity of the temple is Sahasrabhuja-arya-avalokiteśvara or the Thousand Armed Kannon, carved in 1254 by the Kamakura sculptor Tankei (at the age of 82). The sculpture is a National Treasure of Japan. Upon its head are ten other heads, including a miniature image of the Amida Buddha. Stretching out on either side of the main image are 1,000 other smaller images. Kannon was believed to have 33 manifestations, so the faithful would have invoked the mercy of 33,033 Kannons.

The one thousand life-size statues of the Thousand Armed Kannon stand on both the right and left sides of the main statue in 10 rows and 50 columns. Of these, 124 statues are from the original temple, rescued from the fire of 1249, while the remaining 876 statues were constructed in the 13th century. The statues are made of Japanese cypress. Around the 1000 Kannon statues stand 28 statues of guardian deities. There are also two famous statues of Fujin and Raijin.

In January, the temple has an event known as the Rite of the Willow (柳枝のお加持), where worshippers are touched on the head with a sacred willow branch to cure and prevent headaches.

A popular archery tournament known as Tōshiya (通し矢) is also held here on January 15, Coming of Age Day, the same date since the Edo period. The contest is for young women who shoot arrows from one end of the veranda of the main hall to the other.