Kiyomizu-dera, the temple of pure water

The stops follow the one-way route: up through the gates, across the stage, round the valley and down to the spring.

1. The Niō Gate

The lane ends at a flight of stone steps and a gate painted orange-red, fourteen metres high. In the bays on each side stands a guardian with bared teeth. One has his mouth open and one has it shut: the first and last sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet, the beginning and the end of all things.

This gate is older than the hall. It was rebuilt about 1500, after the civil war that burned most of Kyoto, and the fire of 1629 did not reach it.

On the left before the steps is a long low shed. It is a stable. Pilgrims of rank left their horses here and went up on foot.

2. The West Gate and the pagoda

Above the Niō Gate is a second gate, with a pagoda of three storeys behind it. Both were rebuilt in 1631 and 1632. The pagoda is about 31 metres high, among the tallest of its kind in Japan.

Nobody walks through the West Gate. It was built for looking out of. From here the sun sets over the western hills, and in Buddhism the paradise of the Buddha Amida lies in the west. Worshippers sat here at sunset and pictured it.

3. The dark walk

The hall on the left with a curved gable is the Zuigu-dō, built in 1718. For 100 yen you take off your shoes and go down a stair into complete darkness.

You hold a rope of wooden beads as big as oranges and follow it round. The dark is meant to be the womb of a Buddhist mother figure. At the far point a single stone is lit from above. You turn it, make one wish, and climb back into daylight as if newly born.

4. The main hall

You pay at the next gate and enter the main hall along its side. At the door stand an iron staff taller than a man and a pair of iron clogs. Visitors try to lift them. Few manage the staff.

The hall is dim, with a floor of dark boards and pillars thicker than you can circle with your arms. The image of Kannon is at the back, and you cannot see it. It is kept in a closed cabinet and shown once every thirty-three years, because Kannon is said to take thirty-three forms. It was last shown in 2000.

What you see in front is a copy made to stand in for it. It has eleven heads and many arms, and two of the arms are raised above its head to hold up a tiny Buddha. That pose is found here and is called the Kiyomizu type.

5. The stage

The stage is about 190 square metres, floored with more than four hundred boards of cypress. It stands thirteen metres above the slope on eighteen pillars of zelkova, a hardwood. Each pillar was cut from a tree some four hundred years old. Beams pass through slots in the pillars and are held by wedges.

Look at the floor. It slopes slightly towards the rail so that rain runs off. Look at the roof behind you: it is not tile but layers of cypress bark, as thick as a mattress. It was laid new between 2017 and 2020.

In the Edo period (1603–1868) people believed that if you jumped from here with your whole trust in Kannon, you would land unhurt and your wish would be granted. The temple's own diaries record 234 jumps between 1694 and 1864. The trees were thick below, and about 85 in 100 survived. Most jumpers were in their teens and twenties.

The prefecture of Kyoto forbade it in 1872 and put up a fence. The saying stayed in the language.

Every year on 12 December the head priest stands on this stage with a brush as long as his arm and writes a single character on a sheet of paper taller than he is. It is the "character of the year", chosen by public vote, and the whole country watches.

6. The shrine of love

Behind the hall, steps climb under a stone torii to Jishu Shrine, the shrine of the god who owned this ground before the temple came. He is Ōkuninushi, who arranges marriages.

In front of the shrine two stones are set in the paving, well apart. Walk from one to the other with your eyes shut and you will find love. If a friend guides you by voice, you will need a go-between.

The shrine closed for repairs in August 2022. Ask at the ticket gate whether it has reopened.

7. The view back

The path now bends round the head of the valley to a smaller hall with a smaller stage, the Okuno-in. Turn round. This is where every photograph of Kiyomizu is taken: the great roof, the stage, the forest of pillars, and the city beyond.

The Okuno-in stands directly over the spring, on the spot where the first hut is said to have been.

The path goes on to the small red pagoda you saw from the stage. Women came to it to pray for an easy birth. From its foot you see the whole temple at once.

清水へ祇園をよぎる桜月夜 こよひ逢ふ人みなうつくしき

To Kiyomizu, cutting through Gion, a night of cherry blossom under the moon: everyone I meet this evening is beautiful.

Yosano Akiko, from Tangled Hair, 1901

8. The spring

Steps lead down to the foot of the hill. Three thin streams fall from a stone channel into a basin. This is the Otowa spring, the pure water of the temple's name. It has not run dry in the temple's history.

You take a ladle on a long handle from a rack lit with ultraviolet light, reach out and catch one stream. Pour the water into your palm and drink from your hand. One stream, one sip: to drink from all three is thought greedy.

The way out passes under the stage. Stop and look up at the pillars. Near the path is a stone put up in 1994 to two chiefs of the Emishi, the people of the north. They surrendered in 802 to the general who had built this temple's first hall. He asked the court to spare them. The court cut off their heads.