235 people really did jump from the stage between 1694 and 1864: 85.4% of them survived.
The stage juts out over the drop on 139 zelkova pillars (a Japanese elm), fitted together without a single nail; the hall that holds it up was rebuilt on the orders of Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1633. ‘Jumping off the stage of Kiyomizu’ is said of a decision with no turning back, and the temple's diary counts 235 real jumps between 1694 and 1864, with 34 deaths. Below, at Otowa Falls, you queue to drink from one of the three streams.
A temple in Higashiyama founded in 778, with a wooden stage cantilevered over the slope. The main hall that holds it up dates from 1633 and has been a National Treasure since 1952; the complex has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994.
ℹ️ Paid admission, with its own opening hours.
🚉 Kiyomizu-gojo · 22 min walk
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A stop on the school trip to Kyoto in episode 11: you can recognise the cantilevered stage and the torii.
Sword Art Online
It appears in the opening sequence of the last episode of ‘Sword Art Online II’, when Asuna takes Yuuki, Lisbeth, Silica and Suguha to visit Kyoto, and it is Silica who gets most excited in front of the cantilevered stage.
Sources: animepilgrimage.com · libert.co.jp · kyotreat.jp · old.seichimap.jp · furaba-animeseichi.blog.jp · seichi-shioricho.com · kiyomizudera.or.jp · ja.wikipedia.org · kunishitei.bunka.go.jp
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