Went here on a weekend around midday, and it was fairly empty. Entrance is cheap at 600¥.
The gardens are nice but not exquisite, and there really isn't much to see outside. Inside, there is no AC and no photos allowed. Feels pretty arbitrary as to why not. There are pictures of the statues online. Why not allow people to take their own? Statues are cool, especially seeing so many in one area, but that's all there is. Seems to be a place of active worship.
You can make offerings to have "good luck" etc for 500-1500¥ yen. Feels like a money grab, though some people seem more than willing to pay it.
Overall, the gardens are lackluster, and you spend most of your time walking through a hot and sweaty centuries old wooden building with statues that you can't take pictures of. But I guess it is 600¥.
It is a simple, peaceful place. The temple inside is striking as you walk from one end to the other while viewing the thousand buddhas statues and their guardians. The descriptions are effective in painting the history of the temple and statues. Descriptions are in four languages : Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English.
The entrance fee was ¥600 for adults
We visited on Friday morning (10 am), and it was not too crowded. There was one group of students at that time. We spent a little over 60 minutes there.
Many groups of students were arriving around 11AM.
I highly recommend to visit this place. Initially I did not include this place in my list, since I have another few hours to spend and It's far from the last place I visited.
This place will amaze you , the thousand handed god of mercy was finely crafted with very detailed features. There and hundreds of it the size of normal human decorated neatly in a tiny hall. One of those scenes which you cant find anywhere around the planet. At the middle stands a big big statue.
I was so happy to be able to visit this place, unfortunately taking photos is prohibited inside the main hall. you have to appreciate it with your own eyes. This is by far the best place I've visited in Kyoto
This temple also hold national Japanese long bow archery competetion.
We visited the Sanjusangen-do temple in Kyoto, the shrine that holds 1000 statues of Kannon, the goddess of compassion, with her 1000 arms. It’s in a long, wooden pavilion on steps and each intricate statue has many arms with items in each hand.. They stand shoulder to shoulder and it is quite a sight to see. The amount of detail and work that had to be put into each statue is staggering.
In the front row are unique statues of other gods that are all different and very unique. No pictures are allowed inside, unfortunately, so you will have to take mind pictures. Pictures outside are fine though. The building is quite impressive with its scale alone. It also holds relics and art in its halls. A very interesting and impressive sight to see and one that you won’t soon forget!
This is a great visit for a cheap price. It's a small little route around the main temple that takes about ten minutes to walk through, and then you can visit the Buddahs in the long building in the center.
You have to take your shoes off, but it was worth it. The statues are really fascinating, but we not allowed to take pictures of them, which is too bad, because they were the best part of coming here.
