Travel to Japan and discover its people, history, cuisine, scenery, culture & arts.

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photos by me

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Like Shinmonzen dori, I first visited Kyoto’s Ryoanji Temple in the autumn of 1984.  Unlike Shinmonzen dori, I remember my first trip to Ryoanji quite well.  Since that initial trip, I’ve been back to Ryoanji countless times, sometimes alone, sometimes with just one person, sometimes with groups.  I’ve never not enjoyed being at Ryoanji.

A Brief History of Ryoanji

Ryoanji (ryoh・ahn・jee)　竜安寺  is a Buddhist temple situated at the foot of Kyoto’s western mountains (Kyoto’s ringed on three sides — east, north and west by mountains – map).  Its  grounds cover some 120 acres (~48.5 hectares).  Its founding goes back to the mid-Heian Era (794 to 1185), yet was all but destroyed during the Onin Wars (1467-77), then rebuilt during the last decade of the 15th Century.  Ryoanji is a  Rinzai-Myoshinji Sect Temple.  In contrast to many other famous Kyoto and other Japan temples, Ryoanji’s iconographic set-piece is not a massive or elaborately-constructed building.   Rather, it’s Ryoanji’s contemplative, almost otherworldly, rock garden that draws-in visitors from around Japan and around the globe.  That and its quiet, forested, grounds, which include a large lake and scenery “borrowed” from the mountains that rise up behind it.

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A Couple Terms Worth Knowing

+ Karesansui (Garden Without Water):

“The main elements of karesansui are rocks and sand, with the sea symbolized not by water but by sand raked in patterns that suggest rippling water. Representative examples are the gardens of Ryoanji Temple and Daitokuji Temple, both in Kyoto. Plants are much less important (and sometimes nonexistent) in many karesansui gardens. Karesansui gardens are often, but not always, meant to be viewed from a single, seated perspective, and the rocks are often associated with and named after various Chinese mountains. . . .”  Please click here for the entire article/website.

Here’s a photo of mine from Daitokuji temple, mentioned above, which I snapped in 2003 (one of the smaller of many Daitokuji gardens):

+ Shakkei (Borrowed Scenery):

“When the builder of a Japanese garden takes into consideration nearby or distant landmarks that could be seen from the garden [such as a mountain], he is essentially using ‘borrowed scenery’ [shakkei].   Although the practice was originally associated with certain Buddhist beliefs related to geomancy, it later became a purely aesthetic concept related to the spatial arrangements of Chinese and Japanese landscape painting.   Because Kyoto is bordered on the west, north, and east by low but very visible mountains, borrowed scenery was easily incorporated into garden designs.”  Please click here for the entire article/website.

Ryoanji uses a great deal of borrowed scenery in the larger context (beyond the karesansui / dry landscape garden), but I simply cannot find any of my photos of this landscaping technique.  Thus I have to use another photo from several years ago, also from Kyoto and also using the Western Mountains as an element of the immediate, foreground, garden design — this time in Heian Jingu (Shrine).  Heian Jingu is actually on the eastern side of Kyoto, but reaches across the city’s expanse to “borrow” and incorporate a mountain from the western side of town for its walking garden:

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More images from Ryoanji .  .  .

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Note on Getting There:  when I visit Ryoanji, I usually (in fact, maybe always) visit Kinkakuji first, then take the easy 30-minute walk along Kinkaku-no-Michi (Road) from Kinkakuji to Ryoanji.  This 30 minute walk ends up taking an hour if I stop in at Masao Ido‘s Gallery (on the right as you walk from Kinkakuji to Ryoanji, about half-way to Ryoanji).  You can take the #101 or #205 Bus to Kinkakuji for just ¥220, but depending on where you’re starting from within Kyoto, that can take 30-50 minutes.  I recommend biting the bullet and taking a taxi.  The price may be triple, but the time will be cut by 50-75%.  And unless you live in Kyoto or have weeks to enjoy Kyoto, or are on an extremely tight budget (I know about that), I advise against having hours in the day chewed-up on buses.  You should experience bus-riding in Kyoto, certainly, but not for Kinkakuji and Ryoanji.  One other option:  if you’re starting point in Kyoto Station, you can take the Karasuma Line (Subway ) to Kitaoji Station, which is about 15 minutes away, then take a quick taxi or bus to Kinkakuji.

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Addendum:  3 Signs at Ryoanji.

     *  A nice Explainer as one enters the complex . . .

     *  A hundred or so feet from the entrance (to the parking lot in front) . . .

     *  As one enters the Main Hall (to which the Dry Landscape Garden is attached) . . .

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