Kiyomizu-dera
A timber veranda built without a nail, hanging over the city, and the waterfall the temple is named after.
Duration
1 hr – 2 hrs
Best time
At opening, around 6am
Open
Every day
Entry price
600 JPY
The great veranda juts thirteen metres out over the slope, carried on a frame of zelkova pillars assembled without a single nail. It dates from 1633, and the Japanese phrase 'to jump from the Kiyomizu stage' means to commit to something irreversible — two hundred and thirty-four people actually did so in the Edo period.
Below, the Otowa waterfall splits into three streams you drink from a ladle: long life, success, love. Drinking from all three counts as greed, and is frowned on.
Getting there
Bus 100 or 206 to Kiyomizu-michi, then a ten-minute climb through the Sannenzaka shopping lanes.
What the price covers
adult entry; 300 ¥ for primary and lower secondary pupils.
What to bring
- Walking shoes
- Dry bag
Rules on site
The temple opens at six in the morning, long before the rest of Kyoto: that is the only window when the veranda is walkable. The Sannenzaka lanes are cobbled, steep and slippery when wet.
Checked on 29 August 2026 at Kiyomizu-dera — planning your visit
Other places in Kyoto
- Fushimi Inari-taishaTen thousand vermilion torii tunnelling up an entire mountain.
- Kinkaku-ji, the Golden PavilionTwo floors covered in gold leaf, set on a pond that doubles them.
- Arashiyama Bamboo GroveAn avenue of giant bamboo that closes off the sky, west of the city.
- GionThe tea house quarter, timber lanes and lanterns, where geiko still pass in the late afternoon.