Located in the mountains of Mt. Ushio in Yamashina Ward, Kyoto City, Hōjōji Temple is a Shugendo temple that is said to have been opened in the late Nara period more than 1200 years ago.
The main statue's "1-sided, thousand-handed, thousands-eyed Kanzeon Bodhisattva" was made by Emperor Tenchi himself, and is open to the public for only one day each year in spring and autumn.