Kiyomizu-dera | |
Location: | 1270 Kamone, Misaki-machi, Isumi, Chiba Prefecture |
Religious Affiliation: | Tendai |
Country: | Japan |
Website: | http://www.kiyomizudera.info/ |
Founded By: | Sakanoue no Tamuramaro |
Year Completed: | 9th century (traditionally) |
is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Isumi in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. According to an alternate reading of the name in Japanese, the temple is also referred to as Seisui-ji, and is commonly known as the Kiyomizu Kannon. Kiyomizu-dera is the 32nd temple in the Bandō Sanjūsankasho, or the circuit of 33 Buddhist temples in Eastern Japan sacred to bodhisattva Kannon.
According to legend, Kiyomizu-dera was founded in the Heian period by Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, the first shōgun. Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, closely associated with the construction of Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto, reputedly built the Isumi temple as a replica of the well-known Kyoto temple of the same name. Nearly all temple structures of the Heian period were destroyed by fire at some time in the Muromachi period between 1469 and 148, and today few Heian period remnants are extant. The present hon-dō (Main Hall) was reconstructed between 1688 and 1703.