Visit to Kennin-ji
To Kennin-ji
After Nijo Castle, I headed to Kennin-ji — Kyoto's oldest Zen temple, founded in the Kamakura period.
You can see a digital reproduction of the famous Wind God and Thunder God folding screen.
The Dharma Hall features twin dragons painted in 2002 to commemorate the temple's 800th anniversary. They have an incredible presence.
The ○□△ that even appears in Hikaru Utada's lyrics is said to represent the primordial forms of the universe in a previous world, symbolizing earth (□), water (○), and fire (△).
For that reason, the dry landscape garden also expresses the ○△□ motif.
The garden surrounded by corridors is called the Choon Garden. You can sit on the tatami and relax there; it's very soothing.
In front of the hojo is the large karesansui garden called Daiō-en.
It's hard to convey in photos, but it's very large.
I was even able to go close to the tea room Toyo-bo.
The temple was spacious with many other sights, so I headed to my next destination.
Comments