Kannon-dō

The Kannon-do at Daigo-ji in Kyoto's Shimo-Daigo precinct now enshrines a Kannon statue rescued from the Juntei-do on Kami-Daigo after that hall was destroyed by lightning in 2008. The statue, dated to 1798, is accessible to visitors for just one week each May, when the doors of the inner sanctuary are opened in a gokaihi ceremony. The hall also holds statues of Amida Nyorai, from a late Heian-period wooden carving, and Dainichi Nyorai, the cosmic Buddha central to Shingon esoteric doctrine. This hall serves as the eleventh stop on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, the famous 33-temple circuit through western Japan.