Kiyomizu

Kiyomizu was yet another grand temple complex, this time perched on the top of a hill. To get to the temple, one has to walk up a road, walk past a pagoda, through a massive wooden shrine, and then walk along a path to a pagoda set away from the main temple.

During the walk up the hill, small hailstones briefly rained down on us, but they weren't bad enough to deter us from continuing our hike up the hill. At this site, there were many people - mostly women, some men - in traditional dress. I was disappointed when I realized most of them were tourists wearing rented costumes.

The first sight we saw at Kiyomizu was a pagoda, quickly followed by a very grand but dark wooden structure. After walking through this, we walked along a path leading to another pagoda on the hill. Along the way, we diverted off to a forest path and encountered a cat meowing pitifully. It looked as if the cat was domesticated but somehow found itself in the forest. The meows were heartbreaking but there wasn't anything we could do.

After viewing the pagoda, we encountered a huge cemetery. So huge, in fact, that I could not capture the whole site in one photograph.

After visiting Kiyomizu, we made our way down the hill, piled onto a bus bound for Kyoto station, and made our way back to our ryokan. We were both relieved to be warm and dry again. We ate dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant that evening. While walking to the restaurant, we encountered some more hail.

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