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Kyoto is just about what I imagined it to be. The scenery is beautiful, the air is clear and the places of worship are numerous. The shop houses that line the streets around Kiyomizu Temple hint at a simpler past of mysticism and rituals, but find the time to slip in a tourist trap or two.
Kiyomizu Temple is one of the more well-known temples in Japan. The temple is situated off the side of a mountain and is partially located on an elevated wooden platform. It used to be a very popular practice to jump off the side of the stage because it was believed that people who survive the fall can have their wish granted. I would imagine that this was probably a self-fulfilling prophecy as a jumper’s greatest wish would probably be to survive the trip down.
Besides the death wish attraction, the shrine complex also includes a matchmaking shrine, which features a famous pair of “love stones”. It is believed that if one manages to walk from one stone to the other with eyes closed, he/she will successfully find love. My personal take on this particular legend is that people who attempt to do this will probably collide into strangers in the crowded area, and there is a high probability that at least one of them is of the opposite gender and looking for a relationship.
By the way, according to this highly scientific chart, if your age (by the end of this year) is found amongst the ones listed below (particularly the ones in red), then your love life is in trouble! (Top half of the chart is for ladies, bottom half is for guys.) The only way you can hot fix your misfortune is by going to the temple and pick up an anti-misfortune kit for 500 yen. A more powerful upgrade is available for 5,000 yen for those trapped in the infinite abyss of despair.
Kiyomizu also has all the normal stuff that other shrines and temples have, such as omikuji and ema. I got a shoukichi (small fortune) for my draw, which is a very emotionally confusing fortune. It’s sort of like saying, “Your life is probably going to be boring…in a good way.” My friend drew kyou (misfortune), which I had never seen before. I was convinced that they put good fortunes in all the slots as a good business practice. He attempted to tie his paper onto a provided stand, which supposedly negates the misfortune but totally defeats the point of omikuji, but he failed and tore it into two. The curse was too strong.
Ema (絵馬) is basically a piece of wooden board on which you can write your deepest darkest wishes and hang them up for strangers to see. There are very interesting to read. At a tourist-filled location such as Kiyomizu, a lot of the ema are written in English and Chinese.
Most of the ema were normal wishes about love, health and career. I picked the more interesting ones.
Random Photos
I am so cold… For those of you wondering, there are fibre optics connection everywhere in Japan. Even under bridges.
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