Wednesday 23 June 2010

Japan Trip - Kiyomizu Dera

The second major temple I felt Brad couldn't leave Japan without seeing, was Kiyomizudera. In addition to being a beautiful temple, it's in a gorgeous area as well. From the front you can see the mountains ringing the city, from the back you have a tree filled vista.

The temple was crawling with junior high school students, two groups of which stopped us to answer questions for their school project :) . (In total we we stopped by 4 groups the first two days, none after that.)

Looking down from the two viewing platforms, you can see the Kiyomizu (clear water) fountain the temple is named for. You can even stand in line and taste the fresh spring water.

Just outside the temple is a huge hilltop cemetery. We spent some time wandering around it before heading on.

After walking down the ninenzaka and sannenzaka (2nd and 3rd steps) we saw a maiko (apprentice geisha) on her way to a job. A bit further along the road we came to Marounuchi Park, where we stopped to read for a while.. The park was riddled with crows and beautiful views. Like the one below.

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