Sanjusangen-do Temple Kyoto, Japan

Sanjusangen-do was built by Taira no Kiyomori for the retired emperor Go-Shirakawa in 1164. Burned in 1249, the temple was restored in 1266. It is renowned for sculptures of a magnificent thousand-armed Kannon, 1,001 smaller gilt Kannons, and 28 Followers of Kannon displayed in its Hondo. The exterior of the Hondo, or main building (1266), is shown here.

Itself a National Treasure, the long (390 feet) Hondo is divided by interior columns into thirty-three bays, symbolizing the thirty-three incarnations of Kannon. The temple's common name, Sanjusan-gen-do, means "Thirty-three Bay Hall." Its official name, the Renge-o-ji, means "Lotus King Temple," referring to the form of Kannon which is enshrined as the chief statue of the temple.