Ryoanji - Karesansui 枯山水
Ryoan-ji in Kyoto has a world famous zen rock garden. Here you can see some of the simplicity that makes this garden so impressive. The position of the stones and the carefully maintained sand is a sight to behold. The temple itself isn't bad either.
Ryoan-ji is a famous temple of the Rinzai branch of Zen Buddhism. It dates back to the 1400's and was originally associated with the Fujiwara family (big suprise there). The most famous aspect of Ryoan-ji, however, is the karesansui (dry landscape) rock garden--believed to be the finest in the world. It contains 15 stones, although I had trouble finding the last one. Apparently, most people can only see 14 unless you have the right perspective of this 30mx10m garden. There is also a famous fountain (tsukubai), which I failed to get a decent photo of.
Ryoanji - Karesansui 枯山水
Ryoan-ji in Kyoto has a world famous zen rock garden. Here you can see some of the simplicity that makes this garden so impressive. The position of the stones and the carefully maintained sand is a sight to behold. The temple itself isn't bad either.
Ryoan-ji is a famous temple of the Rinzai branch of Zen Buddhism. It dates back to the 1400's and was originally associated with the Fujiwara family (big suprise there). The most famous aspect of Ryoan-ji, however, is the karesansui (dry landscape) rock garden--believed to be the finest in the world. It contains 15 stones, although I had trouble finding the last one. Apparently, most people can only see 14 unless you have the right perspective of this 30mx10m garden. There is also a famous fountain (tsukubai), which I failed to get a decent photo of.