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Kiyomizudera spreads its halls and pagodas across a hillside in Kyoto's Higashiyama district. The thought of the crowds on the approach can be enough to put you off — but the impression changes completely depending on when you go. This article covers a walking route that starts with Kiyomizudera in the morning, then descends Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka to Nene-no-michi and continues to Kodaiji, Yasaka Shrine and Gion, with some history of each site along the way.
Kiyomizudera is said to have been founded in 778. According to the temple's own account, a monk named Kenshin, then training in Nara, received a message in a dream, travelled north and found a clear spring on Mt Otowa. There he met an ascetic called Gyoei, who told him "I have been waiting for you", gave him sacred wood for carving an image of Kannon, and disappeared. Kenshin later took the name Enchin.
Some years later the warrior Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, who had come to the mountain chasing a deer, met Kenshin. Together with his wife Miyoshi no Takako, he founded a temple with an eleven-headed, thousand-armed Kannon as its principal image. The temple's name — "pure water" — is said to derive from the clarity of the spring Kenshin found, later known as the Otowa Waterfall. Kiyomizudera is today the head temple of the Kita-Hosso school.
The current main hall was rebuilt in 1633 and designated a National Treasure in 1952. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes its structure as kake-zukuri, nine bays by seven, single-storey, hipped roof, cypress bark shingles, with a stage at the front. It is that kake-zukuri technique that produces what everyone knows as the stage at Kiyomizu.
Kake-zukuri is a traditional method of building out over a steep slope or ravine. According to the temple, the stage — 13 metres high — rests on 18 zelkova pillars, assembled without a single nail. The joints between pillars and beams are cut to interlock, with wedges driven in to close any remaining gaps. The timbers, set in a lattice, support one another and distribute shock through the whole frame.
The stage floor is laid with roughly 410 cypress boards, covering about 190 square metres. Some of the pillars stand 10 metres tall and exceed two metres in diameter; looked at from below, the scale becomes obvious.
At the top of the approach stands the Niomon gate. It burned down in the Onin War in 1469 and was rebuilt around 1500. Beyond it, the West Gate dates from 1633 and, facing west across the city, is known for its sunsets.
The three-storey pagoda rises about 30 metres. First built in 847, the present structure dates from 1632. Elsewhere in the grounds are the Zuigudo hall (1735), which enshrines Daizuigu Bosatsu and is known for its pitch-dark walkway beneath the floor, and the Okunoin, whose restoration was completed in 2017. From the Okunoin you get an oblique view of the main hall and its stage.
At the end of the circuit lies the Otowa Waterfall, the spring the temple was founded on, also known over the centuries as the golden water and the water of long life.
Jishu Shrine, immediately north of the main hall, is closed for construction and grounds maintenance according to its official site, with neither the duration of the work nor a reopening date announced. This may change, so anyone planning to visit should check official information before setting out.
Kiyomizudera is one of the 17 properties making up the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, inscribed as World Heritage in December 1994. According to Kyoto Prefecture, the grounds hold, alongside the National Treasure main hall, Important Cultural Properties including the Niomon, West Gate and pagoda — 15 halls and towers in all. Many of them are said to have been rebuilt between 1631 and 1633 with funding from Tokugawa Iemitsu.
The way the buildings stack up the slope is itself the product of long accumulation. In the quiet of early morning, you can follow that composition with your eyes at your own pace.
Leaving the temple, walk down the approach into Sannenzaka. This whole area was designated the Sannenzaka Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings on 4 September 1976, covering about 8.2 hectares. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a district that prospered as the approach town to Yasaka Shrine, Hokanji and Kiyomizudera, noting that the stretch from Sannenzaka to Ninenzaka features machiya with lattice windows and shops on the ground floor, while the section from Ninenzaka towards Kodaiji shows two-storey sukiya-style townhouses dating from the Taisho period onwards.
At the bottom of Ninenzaka you emerge onto Nene-no-michi, the stone-paved street running along the west side of Kodaiji. From the Niomon gate to here takes 15 to 20 minutes even with stops — though if you are photographing as you go, assume double. The distance is not long, but the lanes are narrow and there are a lot of steps.
Set out with walking times, the route runs as follows:
Adding time to walk the temple grounds properly, the whole route runs two to three hours. Start when the gates open and you will be down in Gion by late morning.
Kodaiji was founded in 1606 by Kita-no-Mandokoro Nene (1548–1624) to pray for the soul of her husband, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After his death she spent the later part of her life here. The temple preserves lacquerware and other objects associated with Hideyoshi.
Continue north along Nene-no-michi and through Maruyama Park to reach Yasaka Shrine, dedicated to Susanoo-no-Mikoto. Shrine tradition offers two founding accounts: one dating it to 656, when Irishi enshrined the deity, and another to 876, when the monk Ennyo built a hall here. Until 1868 it was known as Gion-sha or Gion Kanshin-in.
The main hall was rebuilt by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1654 and designated a National Treasure in December 2020. It uses a form known as gion-zukuri, in which a single large roof covers both the main hall and the worship hall. Pass through the west gate, built in 1497, and you are at the eastern end of Shijo-dori, with Gion stretching ahead. Allow around 10 minutes from Nene-no-michi.
According to Kiyomizudera's access information, take city bus route 206 or 100 from Kyoto Station to Gojo-zaka, then walk about 10 minutes. Kyoto Bus route 18 also runs on weekends and holidays. By rail, take city bus 207 from Keihan Gion-Shijo Station to Kiyomizu-michi, then walk about 10 minutes; from Keihan Kiyomizu-Gojo Station it is about 25 minutes on foot. City bus 207 also serves the temple from Hankyu Kyoto-Kawaramachi Station.
This route runs downhill from Kiyomizudera to Gion, but you can equally start at Gion-Shijo and walk up. Bear in mind that the reverse direction is uphill throughout, and choose according to your energy.
The approaches through Higashiyama get steadily busier as the day goes on. Just after opening, both the temple grounds and the slopes are relatively calm, and you can take your time over architectural detail and the stonework underfoot. Most shops along the approach open later in the day, so mornings suit walking rather than shopping. If you want to browse and eat, one option is to walk down to Yasaka Shrine first and then come back up the hill.
From the temple approach through Sannenzaka, Ninenzaka and Nene-no-michi, almost the entire route is stone paving and stone steps. Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka are, as their names indicate, stepped slopes, and they become slippery after rain. We strongly recommend comfortable shoes with good grip. Heels and sandals catch easily in the gaps between stones and make the walk harder than it needs to be.
Information in this article is current as of August 2026. Opening hours, admission fees and public access are subject to change. Please check official information for each site before visiting.
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