Kyoto Sept 2019: The Three Waterfall

After walking past all the great hall and shrines, you will slowly come to a park like places and hear streams of running water. That is when you know you are near the main sites of Kiyomizudera, which means the three water place. Lines of traditional cafe can be found for you to rest in if you are tired from all the walking. I love the cafe layout, and the beautiful red umbrella. 

The place is also decorate with cute little figurine for some of the care like this one. It's just fun and whimsical. I didn't stop in any. I would have love too if I was with my husband. Perhaps to have a beer or some dessert and drinks. But I bet they would be overpriced!

Above are the care over looking the stream itself. You have to take off your shoes before entering to sit on the wooden platform. Again, these are some of the things I love about this place. It is really down to earth. Everything is made of paper or wood. There is a very calming feeling to it on, sitting here resting while looking over the water.

And then you reach the holy grail when you see tonnes of people just queueing, and those three water lines falling from the roof is what everyone is queueing for. To get a drink from one (only one!) of those precious holy water. 

I spend a long time just watching people queueing and drinking the water. I was thinking to just watch and skip the experience myself since it was such a touristy thing to do. But since I've already paid for it, and it was unlikely that I will ever be back here again, I thought what the heck! It's not like anyone know me here anyway. 

So I queued behind a line of senior citizens who happens to be on a group trip here. I followed and watch the protocol on what they would do. There are tin long scope for you to use. So you just pick one up when it's your turn, and select which line of water you want to drink from. I guess each one means a different thing. Most people just take whichever spot is available. You collect some water, take a drink of it, and wash your hands and put the scope back. If anything, it was fun and refreshing partaking in this experience. Having done so, off I went to explore more!

I thought that was the end of the temple, but these little jizo statues seems to lead me to more shrines that most people might not even be bothered to take a look. Stay tune, as I share one post of a nice tiny shrine also found in the temple ground.