Kiyomizudera Temple 28 Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage

There are many Kiyomizudera temples scattered across Japan. This one is in Yasugi, Shimane, and may very well be the oldest.

Kiyomizudera literally means "Pure Water Temple", and the most famous is the one in Kyoto.

The temple is very old with the date of 587 generally given for its founding.

According to the legend, an itinerant monk named Sonryu investigated the mountain where locals claimed an eerie light could be seen. He found an old man who gave him a statue of Kannon, and so the first, crude structure housing the statue was erected. Not long afterwards a spring of clear water appeared.

The temple had imperial support as well as from local powers and grew in stature.

At its peak it had 48 buildings, though now only 10 are left. It was the premier temple in the whole San-in region.

The main hall is dated to 1393, and is an Important Cultural Property along with several statues dating back to the Heian Period.

One of the huge trees lining the final set of stairs is said to be 1,000 years old.

In the Gomado next to the main hall are several Fudo statues and a Zao Gongen statue.

The stone statue of Fudo at the start of the climb up to the temple is particularly fine. Top photo.

In 847, a disciple of Saicho stopped here on his way back from China, and since then it has been a Tendai temple.

In the battles between the Amago and the Mori in the late 16th century, everything except the main hall was destroyed by fire.

The pagoda, the last remaining 3-storey wooden pagoda in San-in, was built in 1859.

Unusually, visitors are allowed inside to climb to the upper level.

There is quite a large Inari shrine in the temple.

I left via the Niomon and took a trail down the mountain. This suggests that in earlier times the temple was primarily approached from the East.

On the current approach to the temple there are two eateries offering traditional temple cuisine, Shojin Ryori.

The previous post was on the walk here from Unjuji Temple.

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Between Unjuji & Kiyomizudera

 

The next temple on the pilgrimage after Unjuji is Kiyomizudera, and it is just a few kilometers away so this will be a short post.

I stopped in at this very small temple. The very wide roof is typical of traditional architecture as it was necessary to keep the excessive rainfall away from a building's foundations. This building does not look like it has much longer lifespan without some major, and costly, renovation.

Not sure which Buddha or deity is enshrined here, the main deity is hidden.

A Buddhist statue along the way with ofuda attached attests to this being a pilgrimage route

Cosmos and other autumn flowers brighten the roadside. Where the climb up to Kiyomizudera begins a pile of walking sticks that can be borrowed. I had my own. I think these are for car pilgrims, who are the vast majority of pilgrims nowadays.

The previous post was on Unjuji Temple.

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Honishibashi Residence & Gardens

 

Momen Kaido, Cotton Road, is a small historic district of Hirata that was once a bustling merchant area trading in cotton.

One of the oldest remaining houses is the Honishibashi Residence, the oldest part of which was built in 1750

The earthern-floored entrance foyer has a nice example of the local folk art, Isshiki Kazari.

As well as serving as the home and business premises, the Daimyo would stay here sometimes and so the inner parlour was used as his official reception room.

The gardens were constructed in the early Meiji Period.

The Sou no Niwa, pictured above, is located to the east of the inner parlour. There is a small tea room that alsolook out onto it.

The main garden, the Gyo no Niwa, is located to the west of the inner parlour.

Not surprisingly, it is an Izumo-style garden. The large stone is said to have been a gift from local fishermen after the Ishibashi family paid for the construction of a tunnel that greatly aided the fishermen

I visited in June and so caught the last of the azalea blossoms...

The previous post in this series on the delights of Matsu and Izumo focused on the views from Matsue's tallest building.

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Across Three Rivers

Across Three Rivers

Coming out of the low hills separating the Ou Plain from the Nogi Plain, I head east-southeast towards the next pilgrimage temple, Unjuji.

The main river I have to cross is the Iinashi, but closer to Unjuji I will cross two smaller rivers, the Yoshida, and then the Hakuta. All three drain into the Nakaumi Lagoon.

The main river, Iinashi, has large embankments...

Daisen, the highest mountain in the Chugoku Region, is clearly visible. Hopefully I will be able to reach the temple high on its slopes sometime tomorrow.

Roadside altars are ubiquitous in Japan....

I was very surprised to come across the "Izumo-ori Thatched-roof Exchange Building.

The pleasantness of the surprise was enhanced when I discovered it was free to enter.

It is a kind of rest area selling local veggies, but the interior was lovely with the dark wood floor and traditional hearth.

I didn't notice it, but there was an observation platform on the property that overlooked the rice paddies where migrating swans stop...

I guess I was a little too early in the year for them....

The previous post was on a couple of small shrines in the hills....

If you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.