The little known tomb provides an excellent overlook on Kiyomizu-dera temple but you will have to earn the privilege of enjoying the view. See, you start at the bottom of the hill at a shrine which happens to be at the same altitude as Kiyomizu-dera. Of course 'overlook' contains 'over', so you can guess you'll have to go up. There's a wide staircase going all the way up: no need to climb or go on treacherous mountain paths (although those are available too). But the stairs... Let's just say there's a lot of them. I counted 34 (up to the shrine), 313 (to the first 'flat'), 4 (up to the gate) and finally 172 to the summit. The 313 are split in 5 sections of 63, but it seems 2 steps are missing in the upper flight. Anyway, in total that's 523 steps! Well worth it if you arrive at the right time of the day, like before sunrise or just before/after sunset.
The hill has numerous paths, as most hills do around Kyoto. One leaves from the back of the grave and reaches the speedway below, which can be crossed using a small pedestrian tunnel. Climbing on the other side (another staircase!) and taking the road going left will bring you to the back entrance of Kiyomizu-dera.
Most images here are from the Kiyomizu temple; the grave and the stairs themselves are not particularly interesting. Note that a clearing was made relatively recently to allow the view of Kiyomizu-dera; before that there was no view and little incentive to climb the hill. Access: 100 円 Nearby: Seikan-ji 清閑寺 (320m), Kiyomizudera 清水寺 (700m), Chishaku-in 智積院 (880m), Myōhō-in 妙法院 (950m), Imakumano Kannon-ji 今熊野観音寺 (1.1km), Shinzenko-ji 新善光寺 (1.1km), Hōon-in 法音院 (1.1km), Raigō-in 来迎院 (1.1km), the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial 河井寛次郎記念館 (1.1km), Hōjū-ji 法住寺 (1.2km),... External links: Satellite view, Map Keywords: Japan, 日本, Japon, Kyoto, 京都, Higashiyama, 豊国廟, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, mausoleum, Hokokubyou Statistics: visited on 2 occasions, id 635, 13 photos (3 extra photos can be found in the archive). |
