World and Lore / Historical mystery

Kiyomizu-dera Temple's Stage

Perched upon the steep bluff of Mount Otowa, the main hall of Kiyomizu-dera Temple looks out onto a wooden platform that extends all the way to the cliff's edge. It has long served as a stage for the traditional arts, performed in honor of the temple's principal deity, Kannon Bodhisattva. "To jump from the stage at Kiyomizu" is a well-known expression in Japanese and refers to committing to a course of action which cannot be reversed. It has its origin in an old folk belief that those who survived a fall from the high platform at Kiyomizu-dera Temple would have their most heartfelt wish granted. Reckless though this may seem, records show that over two hundred people took the perilous plunge between the 17th and 19th centuries, until the practice was finally outlawed in the year 1872. The environs immediately beneath the stage, where these death-defying jumps were attempted, happen to be an ancient burial site where the bodies of many commoners were once deposited, particularly when plague and famine ravaged the capital's population.