Kiyomizu-dera

Stand at the edge of the butai, the great wooden stage of Kiyomizu-dera, and the boards give underfoot: below you, 13 metres of air and a frame of 139 wooden pillars, slotted into their crossbeams and tightened with wedges: not a single nail in the whole thing. The walk ends at the Otowa spring, the pure water the temple was named for, where three streams each grant a different wish, and you may drink from only one.