Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kyoto

A Unesco world heritage site, the temple literally means 'Pure Water' temple as it is on the site of the Otowa Waterfall.

Higashiyama District - An early morning stroll before the crowds

Lovely Japanese girls showing off their equally lovely kimonos

Purification before entering the temple

Boys on a school excursion

The inverted cap was incongruous with the outfit

The Otowa Waterfall

The waters are piped into three separate streams, and visitors use long ladled cups to drink from them. Each stream's water is said to have a different benefit - health, wealth and longevity and you can only choose one stream to drink from

Higashiyama District - the lanes were packed with local and foreign visitors alike

The ubiquitous selfie-stick!

Geiko

The geishas of Kyoto are called geikos and it is not always easy to see them. We turned into this alley and lo and behold this geiko happened to be strolling by

Geiko and assistant

Geiko

We were told that if we're lucky we might catch a glimpse of geikos and maikos in the Gion area. We hung about and were lucky enough to capture a few images of these splendid women