Kiyomizu-dera Temple

The huge Main Hall, constructed during the early years of the Edo Period (1603-1868), is the core feature of the temple and was rightly designated as a National Treasure. Its wooden platform hangs over a promontory supported by 13-meter-high crisscrossed pillars made from over 400-year-old zelkova trees and offers the visitor panoramic views of Kyoto City. This temple's principal image is the statue of the Eleven-headed Thousand-armed Kannon Bodhisattva, which is located in a small shrine designated as a National Treasure and is only opened to the public every 33 years.

Sannei-zaka is the hilly road that leads to Kiyomizu-dera Temple, and the area around this road is also known as Sannen-zaka, a designated Traditional Architectures Preservation District. It showcases an outstanding historic landscape with a number of traditional buildings and structures, including many shrines and temples, as well as "machiya" houses built between the late Edo Period and Taisho Era (1912-1926). This paved hilly road with its stone steps and snaking sections is lined with restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops that attract thousands of tourists.