Wooden Standing Statue of Eleven-Headed Kannon (in the Main Hall)

The Founding Image of Kuya's Temple

The Wooden Standing Statue of Eleven-Headed Kannon (in the Main Hall) (木造十一面観音立像（本堂安置）) is the Heian-period Eleven-Headed Kannon that is the principal image of the main hall of Rokuharamitsuji in Rokuro-cho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, which in 1999 was designated a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records one figure owned by Rokuharamitsuji.

According to the Agency, the temple, first called Saikoji, was founded by Kuya (903 to 972), the celebrated early nenbutsu practitioner; this statue is the gilded Kannon of one jo recorded in a eulogy for Kuya written soon after his death, and is thought to date from 951.

The Statue

According to the Agency, the head and body core are carved from a single block containing the heart of the tree, hollowed out from behind, and the surface is gilded over lacquer. The statue is 258.0 centimetres high from the top of the crown, so the one jo of the record corresponds to the height to the hairline.

The arrangement of the small heads, five at the base of the topknot and five on the hair with the Buddha figure behind the front face, is unusual but matches the Eleven-Headed Kannon of the Kanzeonji lecture hall described in the Kakuzensho. The hands now hold nothing but probably held a lotus and a rosary.

What to Look For

The Agency notes that, while restrained in movement as single-block sculpture tends to be, it has a strongly defined waist and shallowly carved features and drapery, typical of the mid-tenth century search for a Japanese style.

The Agency calls it a benchmark of the mid-tenth century, carrying on the weight of the late ninth century with added softness, important as a forerunner of the Japanese style of Kosho, and representative of tenth-century sculpture.

Visiting the Wooden Standing Statue of Eleven-Headed Kannon (in the Main Hall)

Rokuharamitsuji opens at 8:30 a.m. and closes at 4:30 p.m.; its Reiwa-kan treasure house is open 9:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. (last entry 4:00 p.m.), admission 700 yen for adults.

Check with the temple for viewing of the principal image. Enquiries: Rokuharamitsuji, 075-561-6980.