Description of the attraction
There are several temples in Japan called Kiyomizu-dera, but Kyoto is the most famous of them. Its full name is Otovasan Kiyomizu-dera, or the Temple of Pure Water. This Buddhist complex in the Higashiyama area became so called because of the waterfall, which is located on its territory. It is believed that the water from this spring has healing powers.
The temple was founded in 778 by a monk named Entin. There are two versions of its construction. According to one legend, the goddess Kannon appeared to the monk in a dream and ordered him to settle near the Otova waterfall. Entin founded a monastic settlement in the mountains, and then met the shogun Sakanoue no Tamuramaro hunting there. The prayers that Entin offered to the goddess Kannon helped heal the shogun's sick wife, and he himself won the military campaign. In gratitude, the shogun in 798 built a temple on Mount Otova, which became the main building of the monastery. According to another legend, the temple appeared because of the shogun's wife, who repented of her sins, ordered to demolish her estate and build a Buddhist temple in its place. The shogun, who won a military campaign, ordered to turn his residence with a temple into a monastery.
At the beginning of the 9th century, the monastery became the property of the imperial court and received the right to hold official prayers for the health of the emperor's family. Around the same time, the temple acquired its current name.
At the end of the next century, Kiyomizu-dera came under the control of one of the largest Buddhist monasteries in the country - Kofuku-ji. This abode was in a state of enmity with the abode of Enryaku-ji. Clashes between them very often took place with the use of weapons, the Kiyomizu-dera monastery was subjected to pogroms more than once. Kiyomizu-dera suffered most severely in 1165, when the monks of Enryaku-ji burned down the main temple and other buildings. Kiyomizu-dera turned to ash many times, but it was rebuilt.
The buildings that can be seen today were erected in 1633. The temple complex, which is a national cultural treasure, includes a prayer hall, a pagoda, a main temple with a statue of the goddess Kannon, a bell shed and other rooms.
Descriptions of the Kiyomizu-dera abode and its ceremonies are often found in works of Japanese literature of the 11th-13th centuries, in drama and comedy plays, and are used in productions of traditional kabuki and bunraku theaters.
