Kiyomizu-dera
Wooden temple stage built without nails, jutting thirteen meters above a forested hillside above a wish-granting waterfall.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto traces an Edo-period practice: pilgrims who believed that leaping from this stage and surviving would have a wish granted by the temple's goddess of mercy, a custom finally outlawed in 1872. It follows who attempted the jump and the phrase that survives in Japanese to this day. Listen for the Otowa waterfall below, split into three streams that pilgrims still queue to drink from.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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