This story has almost become a legend; some say it unbelievable that the image had been completely kept out of sight for as long as hundreds of years before it was finally opened by Tenshin and Fenollosa.
天心とフェノロサによる秘仏開扉のエピソードは半ば伝説化しており、それ以前の数百年間、誰もこの観音像を見た者がいなかったのかどうかについては疑問視する向きもある。