One-Hour Sojourn at Ryoan-ji Temple

Meaning “the temple of the dragon at peace,” Ryoan-ji Temple was originally the villa of the Fujiwara family during the Heian period. Fujiwara Saneyoshi built the first temple on site, the Daiju-in, and the large pond in the family estate in the 11th century. The powerful warlord, deputy to the shogun, Hosokawa Katsumoto, acquired the land in 1450 and built the Ryoan-ji Temple. The Ryoanji-Temple is a Zen temple. It is undisputed that the original temple was destroyed during the Onin War between the clans. Hosokawa Katsumoto’s son rebuilt the temple in 1488. Perhaps of a more modern relevance is that Queen Elizabeth requested to tour the Ryoanji-Temple in her visit to Japan in 1975. She had high praise for the beauty of this temple. The Ryoan-ji Temple was tranquil. At that early morning hour there were very few tourists, and I could walk around in peace. There are three main sites to see: the famous Rock Garden, the large Kyoyochi Pond and the garden space. Due to time constraints, I did not go inside the Ryoan-ji Temple because, like so many other temples, shoes must be taken off to go inside. The Rock Garden is a famous classic Zen garden. Kyoyochi Pond, meaning “mirror-shaped pond,” comes with a half loop to walk around. There are three small islands on the pond. Two of these islands are reachable by walk. #japan #ryoanji #kyoto #temple #zen #zengarden #buddhism #templegarden #travel#familytravel