Eleven-headed Kannon returns to Shorin-ji in Nara after more than a year on the road

The Standing Eleven-Headed Kannon Bosatsu (Ekadasamukha) of Shorin-ji temple in Sakurai, Nara Pref., was returned to the temple’s Kannon-do hall, where the statue is usually enshrined, in July 2022. The government-designated national treasure had been away for about a year and two months, while the aging Kannon-do was being renovated. The refurbished hall will be open to the public starting on Aug. 1, 2022.

The Kannon-do hall, built with a reinforced concrete structure in 1959, had been deteriorating over the years and its earthquake-resistance was said to be insufficient. The needed renovation started in June 2021.

The statue of the Nara period (8th century) was taken out from the Kannon-do hall ahead of the renovation to be put on display in “Sacred Treasures from Ancient Nara: The Eleven-Headed Kannon of Shorinji Temple” — a special exhibition organized by The Yomiuri Shimbun and others — at the Tokyo National Museum in June-September 2021 and later at the Nara National Museum in February-March 2022.

The standing statue was delivered back to the temple on a truck from the national museum in Nara on July 20, 2022. Movers wrapped the statue in washi (Japanese paper) and cloth for protection, and carried it with great care into the hall on a wooden gurney.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun and other sources)