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KIYOMIZU-DERA

TEMPLE OF THE ‘PURE WATER’ SPRING AND KYOTO’S PREMIER PILGRIMAGE SITE

KIYOMIZU-DERA AT A GLANCE

FEATURES A Kita-Hosso sect temple set on a hillside and famous for its viewing platform and Otowa Spring. Also includes the Jishu Shrine.

ACCESS From Kyoto JR stn, 15 mins by bus to Kiyomizu-michi or Gojo-zaka and 10 mins walk. Alternatively, 20 mins walk from Kiyomizu-Gojo stn on the Keihan line.

PRACTICALITIES 6.00–18.00. ¥300. Temple tel. 075-551-1234. Allow up to 2 hours.

EVENTS Spring and autumn illumination 18.30–21.30. ¥400.

DATELINE

778—Founded by Enchin Shonin

794—Founding of Heian-kyo (Kyoto)

1629—Fire destroys buildings incl. Main Hall

1633—Rebuilding and pagoda added

Kiyomizu is Kyoto’s premier tourist attraction. Along with its remarkable overhang architecture are spacious grounds, fine views, a ‘love shrine’ and a spring with magical properties (the temple’s name means ‘Pure Water’). The crowded approach, which leads up a slope along a narrow street of shops selling souvenirs and delicacies, is much in keeping with the past when pilgrim-tourists thronged the city’s temples. It lends the magnificent World Heritage buildings a vibrant, bustling atmosphere. (Those who seek peace are advised to go at six in the morning.)

The temple originated in 778 when a Nara priest known as Enchin Shonin had a vision in which the whereabouts of the Otowa Spring was revealed to him. Twenty years later, in gratitude for his victories in the north, the ‘barbarian-subduing generalissimo’ Sakanoue no Tamuramaro donated a large hall which had originated as a palace building of Emperor Kammu. It was used to house an image of the 1,000-armed Kannon (deity of compassion) carved by Enchin.

In later centuries, the temple had to be rebuilt on numerous occasions due to damage by fire or fighting, and the present buildings are nearly all from a 1630s reconstruction. One exception is the fifteenth-century Niomon Gate, with its huge and fearsome protectors.

Schoolchildren pose in front of the fifteenth-century Niomon Gate, renovated in 2003. To the right is the Saimon (West Gate) and the Sanjunoto (three-storey pagoda).

The platform of the Hondo (Main Hall) extends over a steep slope and is supported by 139 pillars. It is known as the Butai (Dance Stage) because performances were held there. Unlike the other temple buildings which are tiled, the Main Hall has a cypress bark roof to signify its palatial origins. The massive building extends for 190 feet (58 meters) and faces south, offering expansive views over its wooded surrounds and westwards towards the city.

The Main Hall, unusually, has a shingled rather than a tiled roof because of its predecessor’s imperial origins. Inside can be found an outer sanctuary with wooden paintings and an inner sanctuary with religious statuary, including Enchin’s statue of Kannon which is only displayed once every 33 years.

The famous platform rests on giant pillars strategically positioned on a steep slope, and not a single nail was used in the construction. It offers fine views over the south of Kyoto, seasonally enhanced by cherry blossoms and autumn colors. There is a drop of 43 feet (13 meters), and in Edo times believers in Kannon would throw themselves off in the hope that their wishes would be granted. Astonishingly, of the 234 recorded incidents 85 percent survived, presumably thanks to the vegetation. It gave rise to a popular expression ‘to jump off the Kiyomizu stage’, meaning to take the plunge. (The practice was banned in 1872.)

The interior of the Main Hall is open to the elements, with a corridor leading on one side to the altar area and the other to the Butai or Dance Stage, as the platform is known.

Kiyomizu was founded on the Eastern Hills before Kyoto ever existed. Now it offers fine views over the city of almost 1.5 million, nestled in the river basin below.

The elephant heads of the colorful Momoyama-era West Gate are said to reflect continental influence following the invasion of Korea by Hideyoshi in the 1590s.

Beyond the hall is the temple’s guardian shrine, Jishu Jinja. Though officially separated from the temple after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, it is physically part of the complex and included in the Heritage registration. The shrine is particularly popular with young women since it enshrines the deity of match-making, and it is said that those who can walk with their eyes closed between two ‘love stones’ 59 feet (18 meters) apart will succeed in finding a partner.

There are several other structures in the temple grounds, some of which are only open for viewing on special occasions. These include the Jeju-in garden with its ‘borrowed scenery’, the Koyasu Pagoda associated with easy childbirth, and the Okunoin, a smaller version of the Main Hall with a similar platform. But the main attraction is undoubtedly the Otowa Spring, which flows out of the hillside and is the very source of the temple.

In Edo times, the spring was a popular place of pilgrimage due to belief in the curative qualities of the water. It falls in three separate streams, which according to tradition represent health, longevity and success in exams. Science has proved the water to be pure, and visitors queue up to catch it in metal cups on long poles. (It is held to be greedy to drink from more than one stream.)

The route past the spring leads back to the entrance area, and those looking for closure might want to seek out the intriguing Zuiguido Hall, dedicated to Buddha’s mother, where for ¥100 you can enter pitch blackness and feel your way around a basement symbolising the womb. In this way, Kyoto’s premier World Heritage Site will leave you with a sense of being ‘reborn’ and ready to explore the stores along the attractive alleys of Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka. As for the pilgrim-tourists of old, religion and recreation still go hand in hand.

The Koyasu Pagoda, set in Kiyomizu’s spacious grounds, is traditionally a place to pray for easy childbirth. Built in the seventeenth century, it stands in the south and faces towards the Hondo (Main Hall).

The temple honors a ‘hidden Buddha’ (hibutsu), which is only revealed every 33 years. The 11-headed, 1,000-armed statue of Kannon is said to have been carved by the founder, Enchin.

Dressing in traditional style remains popular with young females, who like to visit the Love Shrine as well as to take the curative waters of the Otawa Spring.