Kiyomizu-Dera
written by wil6ka
on August 21st, 2008
(0 votes)
Kyoto must be the prettiest and most pleasant town of Japan. Certainly it is one of the most historic places of the whole country. Founded in the 7th century and modeled of the great Chinese city of Xian, it became already capital in 794, which is quite speedy in point of view. Only 4 years later the great temple of Kiyomizu was built, one of more than 2000 temples and shrines in Kyoto, which shows the deep religious bounding of the Japanese people.
During cherry blossom season this site is crowded even more then with the usual suspects. And on site there is some serious selling of indulgences is going on. For some hundred yen more or less you can buy little paper, which you bind to some kind of fence or wires, consequently this will either bring you luck or save your life. And it works. People buy their fortune on the go. The Temple itself is build onto the mountain, supported by many hundred wooden pillars, which you can see only from within the temple.
Before entering you pour holy water over your hands to clean yourself. When exiting you can again spend some of your yens, to drink some of the holy water. Ah, there certainly is one exciting spot in the temple. Some kind of love-shag-shrine. If you walk a line of 18 meters from one point to a stone your wish for love will be fulfilled, when you hit the stone. Sounds easy, but the whole thing is getting more complicated, because you have to close your eyes! Certainly this temple is all you need when you are up to Shinto-Gazing. It makes up great photo-motifs and adjacently you will have a great view onto the town from the roof of Kyoto. You can take bus number 206 or 2007 or, like I did, rent a bike and step into the pedals.
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