Otowa Waterfall, Kiyomizu-dera

The temple of clear water

Kiyomizu-dera was founded in 778, before Kyoto was the capital, and takes its name — clear water — from this spring. The buildings you see now date largely from a reconstruction in the 1630s under the third Tokugawa shogun.

The main hall projects out over the hillside on a platform of enormous wooden pillars, assembled without nails. The Japanese expression for taking a decisive leap translates as jumping off the stage at Kiyomizu, which people historically did, in the belief that surviving the fall would grant a wish. The practice was banned in the nineteenth century. The survival rate, for the record, was around eighty-five per cent.

The three streams

The Otowa waterfall is divided into three channels, and each is traditionally associated with a different benefit: longevity, success in study, and fortune in love. Which stream carries which varies between guides and even between signs, and the temple itself is relaxed about it.

You take one of the long-handled ladles from the rack, catch water from the stream you have chosen, and drink. The ladles are held under ultraviolet sterilisers between uses.

The rule that matters is the one about restraint: drinking from all three is considered greedy and is said to cancel the benefit. That instruction is doing real work. It converts a free wish into a choice with a cost, and a wish you had to give something up for is one you remember.

What else people do here

Within the grounds is Jishu Shrine, dedicated to matchmaking, with two stones set about eighteen metres apart. Walking from one to the other with your eyes closed is said to bring luck in love — succeeding with help means you will need an intermediary to find it.

Elsewhere on the site you will see ema, small wooden plaques on which visitors write a wish and hang it on a rack. That practice is nationwide and predates every European fountain in this guide by centuries.

If you go

Kiyomizu-dera opens at six in the morning, which is unusually early for a major temple and by far the best time to arrive. The approach streets, Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka, are steep, stepped and packed by mid-morning.

The waterfall queue moves steadily but can take twenty minutes in peak season. Decide which stream you want before you reach the front.

Questions people ask

What do the three streams at Kiyomizu-dera mean?

They are traditionally associated with long life, success in study, and fortune in love. Sources disagree about which channel is which, and the temple does not enforce a version.

Can you drink from all three?

You can, but it is considered greedy and tradition holds that it cancels the benefit. Choosing one is the point of the ritual.

Keep reading

• Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples across Japan

  The saisen box, Japan

  The world's most-performed coin ritual. A five-yen piece, a bell, two bows and two claps — and something subtly different from a wish.

• Bangkok, Thailand

  The 108 bowls of Wat Pho

  A corridor of 108 bronze bowls, one coin in each, and a sound that follows you the whole way down.

• Lam Tsuen, Tai Po, Hong Kong

  The Wishing Trees of Lam Tsuen

  Wishes written on red paper, tied to an orange and thrown into a banyan — a tradition that had to be redesigned after a branch came down.