Predictably, where we were going is not actually Sanjūsangen-dō (Hall with thirty-three spaces between the columns) at all. That name describes its most notable feature, the 120 metre main hall, which is either the world's longest wooden building or Japan's longest wooden structure. Possibly, both. Either way it’s a truly monumental structure.
Counting the spaces between the building’s supports was a traditional measure of a building’s length.
The temple’s official name is Rengeō-in, or Hall of the Lotus King, and it belongs to and is administered by the Myoho-in temple and the Tendai school of Buddhism. Founded in 1164, destroyed by fire in 1249 with the main hall rebuilt in 1266, the temple’s reputation is based on what would have to be one of the most impressive assemblies of statues in the world.