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The founder
Taira no Kiyomori built a temple to win a noble title
Sanjūsangen-dō was founded in 1164 by Taira no Kiyomori for the cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa. He built it to gain the title of Chancellor of the Realm, becoming the first samurai to do so.
The fire
A fire in 1249 spared only 124 of the first thousand statues
A fire that broke out in the city in 1249 destroyed the whole complex. Of the original 1000 standing Thousand-armed Kannon, only 124 were saved. The Emperor ordered 876 new statues, made over 16 years by three groups of sculptors.
124of the original 1000 statues saved from the fire
The hall
The main hall rebuilt in 1266 is 120 meters long
Emperor Go-Saga ordered the hondō rebuilt, and it was completed in 1266. It survives to the present day and is designated a National Treasure of Japan. The statues are made of Japanese cypress clad in gold leaf.
120 meterslength of the temple
The statues
One thousand life-size Kannon stand in 10 rows
The main statue of the Thousand Armed Kannon was created by the Kamakura sculptor Tankei. On both sides of it stand one thousand life-size statues in 10 rows and 50 columns, with 28 guardian deities and the statues of Fūjin and Raijin.
The arrows
An archery contest ran on the west veranda for 255 years
A popular archery tournament known as Tōshiya was held at the west veranda for 255 years during the Edo period. It dates back to 1606, when a samurai named Asaoka Heibei is said to have shot 51 arrows in rapid succession down the veranda.
Day 1, midday
It comes after Fushimi Inari Taisha. Then Kiyomizu-dera.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Sanjūsangen-dō, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.