Sacred Kyoto
知恩院

Chion-in

Pure Land temple, Southern Higashiyama

Ukiyo-e illustration of the huge two-storey gate of Chion-in at the top of a wide stone stair

A gate about 24 metres high under roughly seventy thousand tiles, and a gate written with the character for three rather than mountain, so you walk in through one of three openings. Up the hill hangs a bell of about 70 tonnes, sounded on two occasions a year; on New Year's Eve it takes 17 monks to ring it, 108 times. Then stand in front of the great hall and find the four tiles that were never laid at the centre of its roof ridge.

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Close by in Southern Higashiyama

The Sacred Kyoto app open on Kinkaku-ji, with Listen and Read side by side

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