Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺) a.k.a. the temple of clear water was founded in 780 on the site of the Otowa Waterfall in the wooded hills east of Kyoto, and derives its name from the fall’s pure waters. It is the most famous Buddist temple in Kyoto and also an UNESCO world heritage site.
We took the city bus from Kyoto Station which was quite easy to navigate, then followed by a short walk up to the temple sitting on the hill. We passed by some nice shops and already started shopping before we reached the temple. It was a weekend so the temple was filled with people, many of them came out with the traditional yukata/kimono to pray for studies, love, health and all other things in life. I was told that it was quite famous for the singles to pray for love life too as they have the famous love stones in the temple, whereby local believes that if you could walk from 1 stone to the other stone with closed eyes, you will find love soon in your life. I tried it and I cheated with my eyes not fully closed but still found love in less than a year later. Guess it works huh?
Anyway, it was a lovely temple with lots of greens and amazing wooden structures built among the hills. We stopped at Takinoya (滝の家), a cafe/restaurant near the Otowa-no-taki (the famous waterfall spring water spot where everyone is queuing to drink for health, longevity and success in studies). I ordered the Zaru Soba (cold soba noodles) and it was the best cold soba noodles that I had in my life! I remembered using the pointy Japanese chopsticks to pick up every single strain of noodles and didn’t leave anything behind! All the noodles at this place starts from ¥600 and we also tried the Matcha and Uhagi (Green Tea and Red Bean Paste) for ¥600. I’m not a fan of red bean so didn’t really dig into that dish much. After brunch, we swiftly exited the temple into the shopping street along the pathway back to the bus station.
It was our last day in Kyoto after 5 amazing days and I was glad that we ended our 1st part of our Japan Kansai journey at this beautiful temple…