The smoke also acts as a preservative for the wooden building.
The World Heritage Sites of
ANCIENT KYOTO
THE CULTURAL HEARTLAND OF JAPAN
Kyoto was the capital of Japan for over 1,000 years and in its river basin was fostered much of the country’s traditional culture: courtly aesthetics, Zen, Noh, the tea ceremony, kabuki, ikebana and the geisha arts. It is truly one of the world’s great cities, recognised by UNESCO with its registration of 17 separate properties (it could have been so many more!).
‘Kyoto embodies all the values that UNESCO treasures,’ says Director General Irina Bokova. ‘It is blessed by glorious nature. It has many intangible assets, like the Gion Festival. And it has wonderful people.’
Geographically speaking, three of the properties lie outside Kyoto City. The temple of Enryaku-ji lies in Otsu City, while Byodo-in and Ujigami Shrine are in the small town of Uji. Historically, however, they are firmly part of Kyoto culture.
In all, the site boasts over 200 buildings and gardens of high artistic merit. Here are places for which people fly across the seas: the Golden and Silver Pavilions, Nijo castle, Kiyomizu Temple, the world’s most famous rock garden. Here are the quintessential elements of a culture that has enriched the world. Here, quite simply, is the glittering heart of Japan.
KYOTO AT A GLANCE
REGISTRATION 1994, as ‘Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities)’.
FEATURES 17 properties, comprising 13 Buddhist temples, 3 Shinto shrines and 1 castle.
ACCESS Kyoto is 1 hour 15 mins from Kansai Airport or 2 hours 15 mins from Tokyo by bullet train. Public transport within the city can take time, so a geographical approach is advised (see map).
PRACTICALITIES Tourist information: Kyoto Station bldg 2F, tel. (075) 343-0548. Both Kyoto City and Kyoto Prefecture have English websites with sections on World Heritage Sites. Other useful websites: kyoto-magonote.jp; www.kyotoguide.com; www.kyoto.travel. For volunteer guides, see the list on JNTO’s website.
KIYOMIZU-DERA
TEMPLE OF THE ‘PURE WATER’ SPRING AND KYOTO’S PREMIER PILGRIMAGE SITE
KIYOMIZU-DERA AT A GLANCE
FEATURES A Kita-Hosso sect temple set on a hillside and famous for its viewing platform and Otowa Spring. Also includes the Jishu Shrine.
ACCESS From Kyoto JR stn, 15 mins by bus to Kiyomizu-michi or Gojo-zaka and 10 mins walk. Alternatively, 20 mins walk from Kiyomizu-Gojo stn on the Keihan line.
PRACTICALITIES 6.00–18.00. ¥300. Temple tel. 075-551-1234. Allow up to 2 hours.
EVENTS Spring and autumn illumination 18.30–21.30. ¥400.
DATELINE
778—Founded by Enchin Shonin
794—Founding of Heian-kyo (Kyoto)
1629—Fire destroys buildings incl. Main Hall
1633—Rebuilding and pagoda added
Kiyomizu is Kyoto’s premier tourist attraction. Along with its remarkable overhang architecture are spacious grounds, fine views, a ‘love shrine’ and a spring with magical properties (the temple’s name means ‘Pure Water’). The crowded approach, which leads up a slope along a narrow street of shops selling souvenirs and delicacies, is much in keeping with the past when pilgrim-tourists thronged the city’s temples. It lends the magnificent World Heritage buildings a vibrant, bustling atmosphere. (Those who seek peace are advised to go at six in the morning.)
The temple originated in 778 when a Nara priest known as Enchin Shonin had a vision in which the whereabouts of the Otowa Spring was revealed to him. Twenty years later, in gratitude for his victories in the north, the ‘barbarian-subduing generalissimo’ Sakanoue no Tamuramaro donated a large hall which had originated as a palace building of Emperor Kammu. It was used to house an image of the 1,000-armed Kannon (deity of compassion) carved by Enchin.
In later centuries, the temple had to be rebuilt on numerous occasions due to damage by fire or fighting, and the present buildings are nearly all from a 1630s reconstruction. One exception is the fifteenth-century Niomon Gate, with its huge and fearsome protectors.
Schoolchildren pose in front of the fifteenth-century Niomon Gate, renovated in 2003. To the right is the Saimon (West Gate) and the Sanjunoto (three-storey pagoda).
The platform of the Hondo (Main Hall) extends over a steep slope and is supported by 139 pillars. It is known as the Butai (Dance Stage) because performances were held there. Unlike the other temple buildings which are tiled, the Main Hall has a cypress bark roof to signify its palatial origins. The massive building extends for 190 feet (58 meters) and faces south, offering expansive views over its wooded surrounds and westwards towards the city.
The Main Hall, unusually, has a shingled rather than a tiled roof because of its predecessor’s imperial origins. Inside can be found an outer sanctuary with wooden paintings and an inner sanctuary with religious statuary, including Enchin’s statue of Kannon which is only displayed once every 33 years.
The famous platform rests on giant pillars strategically positioned on a steep slope, and not a single nail was used in the construction. It offers fine views over the south of Kyoto, seasonally enhanced by cherry blossoms and autumn colors. There is a drop of 43 feet (13 meters), and in Edo times believers in Kannon would throw themselves off in the hope that their wishes would be granted. Astonishingly, of the 234 recorded incidents 85 percent survived, presumably thanks to the vegetation. It gave rise to a popular expression ‘to jump off the Kiyomizu stage’, meaning to take the plunge. (The practice was banned in 1872.)
The interior of the Main Hall is open to the elements, with a corridor leading on one side to the altar area and the other to the Butai or Dance Stage, as the platform is known.
Kiyomizu was founded on the Eastern Hills before Kyoto ever existed. Now it offers fine views over the city of almost 1.5 million, nestled in the river basin below.
The elephant heads of the colorful Momoyama-era
