Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto

 

We got up at 6:30 or so in order to get to the temple before all the tourists arrived.

We grabbed a bus up to the temple site and walked up a rather steep hill to a similarly steep set of stairs which took us to the temple grounds.

Here are shots of me and Kozue posing at the entrance.

Kiyomizu-sera is a Buddhist Temple which initially established in 778. Many of the buildings were added in 1633 by a local Shogun. The site is huge and beautifully situated on a hillside. 

The pagoda

A view inside the main temple. We gave money, then knealt, then banged the gong (on your right) very gently. 

Collecting sacred water for drinking. The ladle is stored in a sterilizing, UV ray chamber, and you pull it out, collect water from one of the three streams, and drink. Of course you return the ladle to the sterilizing chamber.

This is a scene from one of the streets that radiate around the temple complex. We spent a lot of time at a used kimono shop and Kozue bought a beautiful obi.

These are the underpinnings of the main temple. The posts and cross beams are constructed of enormous blocks of wood.

Little statues of unborn?

A lovely view from what I believe to be a secondary temple.

View of the main temple with sprinkling of snow on top.

This impressive pagoda is outside the temple complex. So many temples, Shinto and Buddhist, throughout Kyoto.