Yamanaka Kannondo Hall

This 16th-century hall at Sanage Shrine is a quiet survivor of Japan's forced separation of Shinto and Buddhism after the Meiji Restoration. When officials ordered Buddhist structures removed from shrine grounds in 1868, the head priest argued that Yamanaka Kannondo stood outside the shrine's official boundaries and therefore didn't apply. The authorities accepted this and the hall was spared, while nearby structures were torn down. Their statues were brought here for safekeeping. The hall still holds the original Senju Kannon, a thousand-armed bodhisattva carved around the late 10th century, along with several rescued statues from demolished halls. It is generally not open to the public.