Kiyomizu-dera Temple
A monk traced a golden stream to its source on Mount Otowa in 778. Pilgrims are still arriving.
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One of the rare Kyoto temples that predates the city itself — it existed before Heian-kyō became the capital. Part of the UNESCO Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, it is also the 16th stop on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage. The spring that drew its founder here gave the whole place its name: Pure Water Monastery.
What to look for
- The Otowa waterfall on Mount Otowa — the source Kenshin traced in 778, which named the temple 'Pure Water Monastery'
- Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage markers: stop 16 on Japan's great Kannon circuit
- On 12 December (Kanji Day): the national Kanji of the Year is unveiled here in a ceremony held annually since 1995
Located in the Higashiyama area of eastern Kyoto; receives pilgrims year-round.
Kiyomizu-dera Temple is one of 39 sights worth the detour in Kyoto, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Kyoto pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Kyoto
- Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion)A gold-wrapped pavilion torched by a novice monk in 1950 and rebuilt by 1955 — every gleaming surface you see is modern.
- Fushimi Inari-taishaTen thousand orange gates, every single one paid for by a Japanese business, tunnel up a sacred mountain.
- Heian-kyō (Kyoto)Japan's capital for over a thousand years — and by one legal argument, still.
- Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion)The silver coating was never applied — and that unfinished state became the point.
- Kyoto Imperial PalaceJapan's imperial seat for 538 years — until the emperor moved his residence to Tokyo and the palace lost its central role.
- Enryaku-ji TempleThe mountain monastery where the founders of four major Buddhist sects spent time — and where Oda Nobunaga came in 1571 to level the buildings and slaughter the monks.