The Momiji Diaries – Part 1 – Kyoto, Shinnyo-do temple

by Jade Pavilions on 20/04/09 at 12:22 pm

The following diary entries are from a 2½ week stay in Kyoto and Matsue during 2008, where I led a group of Japanese garden enthusiasts visiting the sites of Kyoto and elsewhere to experience the momiji (maple viewing).

7th November 2008, Kyoto

I arrived in Kyoto late on the 6^th of November as an advance member of the group, staying in a Japanese family B&B called Yonbanchi in the University district of Kyoto. The house was an old traditional style house without insulation, a loo in one corner of the garden and a small shower shed in the other. The best view of the garden was from the low open window in the loo seen when in use – that’s the nice way of putting it! The B&B was run by a French gaijin (foreigner after 27 years) and his Japanese wife. Breakfast was served at the family table, seated on cushions and reflected his French background with coffee, toast and fruit. The room had an alcove with futon on the floor with a rice sack pillow and little else. The house used to be the quarters of the chief priest of Shinnyo-do temple and was situated just outside it’s main gate.

Having breakfasted I set off to see some of the local attractions and a few other places not on our later formal itinerary.

The first visit of the day was to see what Shinnyo-do temple had to offer and the guide showed me the dry landscape garden of the reclining Buddha. This was a rock garden which replicated a picture of the reclining Buddha in stone against a background of the Higashiyama hills behind – rather lost in the mist. The guide graciously explained in some detail and despite my lack of Japanese managed to grasp the relationship between the picture and the garden.

From the temple I ventured in the opposite direction up into a wooded area of the Yoshido shrine, a local minor shrine with a woodland walk. Having reached the main bus route I proceeded to the Daitoku-ji temple complex. This has many sub temples, a number of which are open and have gardens of repute. The first is that of Daisen-in, which has a series of gardens viewed from the temple veranda and tells the story of the river of life. The picture shows the source of the river in the mountains. The temple was covered in scaffolding to replace the roof and photography is now prohibited . A similar situation was found at Shinju-an but the garden was insignificant. Still within the main complex I rediscovered the rather delightful garden of Kohrin-in, with its main dry landscape garden a representation of Mount Horai. The temple has an excellent approach with several dry landscape gardens and traditional tea house.

Just around the corner is another well known garden of Zuiho-in, dedicated to a Christian Daimyo (lord) with it’s garden of the cross and an excellent crane rock arrangement (the crane is an important symbol in Japanese Buddhism and is the way to attaining paradise). No tour of Daitoku-ji would be complete without a visit to the sub temples of Ryogen-in and Koto-in. Ryogen-in has several dry landscape gardens including another crane rock arrangement, a Mount Horai garden and the small tsubo-niwa garden (seen here) of A-un representing the first and last breath made by a baby and old person.

The garden of Koto-in has an impressive entranceway and an atmospheric garden of maples and green moss (seen here). It has a small stroll garden with ancient basin amidst the undergrowth and the usual tea house.

My favourite temple of the day was Koto-in, Sitting on the veranda in the cool of the Autumn afternoon was a memorable experience.