Kiyomizudera Temple (Kato)

What Is Kiyomizudera Temple (Kato)?

Kiyomizudera Temple (Kato) (清水寺, Kiyomizu-dera, widely known as Banshū Kiyomizu-dera) is a Tendai Buddhist temple on the summit of Mount Mitake in Hiraki, Kato City, Hyogo Prefecture, where five buildings rebuilt from 1917 after a fire in 1913 were entered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on June 7, 1999.

The temple is stop number 25 on the Saigoku pilgrimage of thirty-three Kannon temples in western Japan. The more famous Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto is stop number 16 on the same route, so the temple and the pilgrimage association call this one Banshu Kiyomizudera, after Banshu, the old name of the Harima region. According to the Saigoku association, the temple stands about 500 meters above sea level, and on clear days the view reaches the Seto Inland Sea and Awaji Island.

The Founding Legend of Kiyomizudera Temple

The temple's own history names its founder as Hodo Sennin, a holy man said to have come from India by way of China and Korea. In 627, the legend continues, Empress Suiko ordered the Konpon Chudo built, and an Eleven-Headed Kannon carved by Hodo was installed in it.

The name comes from the same story. The mountaintop had little water, so Hodo prayed to the water deity and a spring rose; in gratitude he called the temple Kiyomizu-dera, the temple of pure water. The spring survives as the Okage Well, behind the Konpon Chudo on its left side.

The history goes on to say that in 725 Emperor Shomu had the monk Gyoki build the Great Lecture Hall, and that the retired Emperor Kazan later composed a poem here on his own pilgrimage, which is how the temple came to be the 25th stop. These are temple traditions and say nothing about the age of the present buildings.

The 1913 Fire and Takeda Goichi's Rebuilding Plan

In 1913 fire swept through Kiyomizudera Temple and destroyed nearly every hall and monks' lodging on the summit. The Agency for Cultural Affairs explains that the temple was rebuilt to a plan for the entire mountain drawn up by the architect Takeda Goichi, with construction carried out by Ito Heizaemon. Meguri, a temple guide run by the Tendai school, describes Ito as a master carpenter from Nagoya and says the Konpon Chudo was built of cedar grown on Mount Mitake itself.

The Agency's database dates the Konpon Chudo, the Great Lecture Hall, the Honbo and the Guest Hall to 1917 and the Bell Tower to 1919, although the temple's own map of the grounds gives 1920 for the Bell Tower. Either way, four of the main buildings were standing again within four years of the fire.

The temple tells how the principal image, the Eleven-Headed Kannon, "took refuge on its own" during the fire. It survived and was returned to the new Konpon Chudo.

Five Buildings Registered Together

All five buildings of Kiyomizudera Temple (Kato) became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in the 17th round of registrations on June 7, 1999, announced on July 19, 1999. Their registration numbers run in sequence: 28-0047 for the Konpon Chudo, 28-0048 for the Great Lecture Hall, 28-0049 for the Bell Tower, 28-0050 for the Honbo and 28-0051 for the Guest Hall. All five were registered as models of form.

Each building does a different job. The Konpon Chudo houses the temple's principal image; the Great Lecture Hall holds the pilgrimage image and receives pilgrims; the Bell Tower carries the temple bell; the Honbo houses the temple office and living quarters; and the Guest Hall, attached to the Honbo, was built for receiving visitors. Within one rebuilding plan, those roles are told apart by roof shape and scale.

Layout and Walking Order

Read together with the coordinates in the Agency's database, the descriptions place the five buildings in the following order. On the coordinates, all five fall within about 120 meters of one another.

• From the summit parking area, walk through the Nio Gate and along the approach toward the Great Lecture Hall. The Honbo stands on the north side of the approach, at the west end of a terrace above a retaining wall, with its karahafu entrance porch turned east toward the Great Lecture Hall.
• The Guest Hall lies between the Honbo and the Great Lecture Hall, a low building running east to west and joined to the Honbo's main hall by a covered corridor.
• At the end of the approach, at the foot of a stone stairway, the Great Lecture Hall faces south. It is the hall of the 25th pilgrimage stop, and the temple's website says stamp books and amulets are offered here.
• Partway up the stairway from the Great Lecture Hall, on the west side of a landing, the Bell Tower stands facing east.
• At the top of the stairway, the highest point of the group, stands the Konpon Chudo. The temple counts 80 steps from the Great Lecture Hall to the Konpon Chudo.

The Honbo and Guest Hall along the approach are places of daily life and hospitality, while the two worship halls sit below and above the stairway. Climbing from the lowest point, you move from living quarters to the pilgrims' hall and finally to the hall of the principal image.

Visiting Kiyomizudera Temple (Kato)

The gates are open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with last entry at 4:30 p.m. Admission rose on October 1, 2026, to 800 yen for adults and 500 yen for high school students; junior high school students and younger enter free. The earlier fees were 500 yen and 300 yen. Group discounts are available on inquiry.

By public transport, take a Shinki Bus bound for Kiyomizudera from in front of JR Aino Station on the Fukuchiyama Line, also called the JR Takarazuka Line, and ride to the last stop. There are only two buses a day. The temple and the pilgrimage association give the journey as about 35 minutes, but the sample timetable on the temple's website, with departures from Aino at 10:15 a.m. and 1:10 p.m., shows 48 minutes. The sample return buses leave the temple at 12:03 p.m. and 2:50 p.m.; miss the second and there is no later bus, so plan your return first. The temple puts a taxi from Aino Station at about 4000 yen one way.

By car, the temple is about 20 minutes from either the Sanda-Nishi interchange on the Maizuru-Wakasa Expressway or the Hyogo-Tojo interchange on the Chugoku Expressway. The Saigoku association lists free parking on the summit for 340 cars and 20 large buses. The temple has not published a policy on photography inside the halls, so check the notices or ask at the reception.