Mibudera Temple on New Year's Eve

One of the most important rituals for Buddhist temples in Japan is Joya no Kane.  Temples sound their bells at midnight on new year's eve 108 times to relieve listeners from the 108 types of bonnou - earthy desires and feelings, such as anger and jealousy, that plague humans.  To start the year fresh, it is done on New Year's Eve.  

Fujitaya BnB invited its guests to meet at 11 pm and walk together to Mibudera Temple to ring in the new year. I think there were 20 or more people who walked together, 30 minutes or more. When we arrived, the line was quite long, but it moved quickly. It was all organized so that groups of ten or so would pull the ropes, causing the pole to hit the large bell. I guess this went on 108 times.

Mibudera's history goes back to the year 991 and the temple grounds were used as a training site by the special police force. 

It was dark so the photo below is hard to see, but this is the Sentai-butto.  It is a Buddha statue tower built to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Mibudera temple.  The 1000 stone Buddha statues were gathered from all around Kyoto to make this Myanmar-style pagoda.

It was quite exciting to ring in the new year in Kyoto Japan.