Engakuji is the main temple of the Engakuji section of the Rinzai Buddhist sect. The garden was restored in 1969 according to an old drawing. Zen Buddhism regarded gardens as microcosms of the natural landscape and this is a fine example. Kamakura became important when Shogun Yorimoto Minamoto wrested power from the imperial court at [...]
Katsura Imperial Villa was built in the early Edo Period for Prince Toshhihito (1579-1629) and work began when he was 40. The prince himself was the main designer, working with Kobori Enshu, a tea master, government official and garden designer. A lake (1.25 ha) was dug, hills and islands formed, beaches made, pavillions built and [...]
The Kyoto Imperial Palace (, Ky?to Gosho) is an imperial palace of Japan, though the Emperor of Japan is not in residence. The Emperor has resided at the Tokyo Imperial Palace since 1869 (Meiji Restoration) and ordered the preservation of the Kyoto Imperial Palace in 1877. Today the grounds are open to the public, and [...]
Kenroku-en ( Six Attributes Garden), located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, is an old private garden developed from the 1620s to 1840s by the Maeda clan, the daimyo who ruled the former Kaga Domain. Along with Kairaku-en and Koraku-en, Kenroku-en is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan. It is open year-round during daylight hours [...]
One of Japan’s most famous Zen gardens located in the Daisen-in (Great Hermit’s Temple), a sub-temple of the main temple of Daitoku-ji in northern Kyoto. The Daisen-in was founded in 1509 by the Zen priest Kogaku Sotan (1464-1548) upon his retirement as abbot of Daitoku-ji. The entire complex is one of the most famous examples [...]
Ry?an-ji (Shinjitai: Ky?jitai: The Temple of the Peaceful Dragon) is a Zen temple located in northwest Kyoto, Japan. Belonging to the Myoshin-ji school of the Rinzai branch of Zen Buddhism, the temple is one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site of the temple was originally a Fujiwara [...]
Rikugien is one of Tokyo’s most beautiful, Japanese style landscape gardens. Built around 1700 by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, Rikugien literally means “six poems garden” and reproduces in miniature 88 scenes from famous poems. Rikugien is quite a spacious garden with a central pond, islands, forested areas, man made hills and several teahouses. It takes about an [...]
