Kyoto Tour- Kiyomizu Temple

I visited the famous Kiyomizu Temple the evening of the Typhoon so it was dark, dank, damp and overall oppressive. (And my camera&phone were not co-operating) I would say the thing that actually annoyed me was that the cloud cover blocked the reputably spectacular view from the stage.

Behold the ticket!!

Kiyomizu (Which translates to something like 'pure water') is built on the mountain. It's fairly steep and rather high up. When you glance off the stage you can see the streets lined with shops. (Of course, nowadays they're all Tourist traps.) The height is about 13m.

 

Now, there is a saying in Japanese that I have actually heard of: 'to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu' which essentially means 'to take the plunge'. What I did not know is that people actually did this in the Edo period (85% survival rate) because the belief was that if you survived the sharp plunge your wishes would be granted. -_- They have a book of records and no, they did not use a bungee.

Here is the view from the stage. It looks down onto a range of shops and temple outlets selling charms etc. The crowds were fierce despite the ominous weather. Who'd be desperate enough to jump from here? You'd use all your luck trying to survive.

You leave the stage by going down some very steep steps and doing so takes you under the base of the stage so you can see exactly how it's being held up.

Apparantly this was constructed on the orders of Ieyasu Tokugawa Iemistu (Yes, of that Nijo Castle Clan) and was built without the use of a single nail.

This is also the site of the famous Otowa-no-taki.

Seeing as this buddhist complex is named after the pure spring water it is unsurprising a sacred spring would be here. From the three sprouts you drink from one for either intelligence, beauty or longevity but it is bad luck to drink from all.

............................I didn't drink from any. =.= Well, for one thing I'm not a buddhist, another I can't put my fate in such things as water I'm likely to drown in. More importantly, the line was HELLA long and I did not have the time to queue up if I wanted to to hit the shops before heading for the bus.

So Kiyomizu, don't jump. If you survive you'll be fined.