Why Zen temples are known for gardens
Kyoto has many temples of the Zen schools, mostly Rinzai in the city, with the Soto school also present in Japan more widely. Zen came to Japan from China, and from the Kamakura and Muromachi periods the Rinzai school won the support of warrior rulers. Several of Kyoto’s great Zen temples, including Daitoku-ji, Nanzen-ji and Tofuku-ji, trace their prominence to that era. The connection to Chan Buddhism origins in China explains many of the arts associated with Zen, among them ink painting, tea and garden design.
Gardens are not a necessary part of Zen teaching. Meditation, work with a teacher and daily monastic routine are the heart of practice. But gardens became a highly developed art at Zen temples, partly because monks and patrons valued simplicity, restraint and attention to the present moment. The common description of a Zen garden as an expression of “emptiness” is an interpretation, not an official doctrine, and different temples and writers read their gardens differently.
Dry landscape gardens
A dry landscape garden is called karesansui in Japanese. It uses stones, gravel and sometimes a few plants to suggest mountains, islands, water or the sea, without using water. Raked gravel is often compared to ripples or waves.
- Ryoan-ji is perhaps the most famous example. Its rectangular garden of raked gravel with fifteen stones in groups is commonly said to be arranged so that not all fifteen can be seen at once from the veranda. The date and designer of the garden are uncertain, and several theories exist, so it is wise to be cautious about tidy explanations.
- At Daitoku-ji, sub-temples such as Daisen-in contain small, dense dry landscapes with symbolic rocks. Many sub-temples at large complexes have their own opening arrangements, so check which are open.
- At Tofuku-ji, the abbot’s quarters have gardens designed in the twentieth century by Shigemori Mirei, showing that the tradition has continued to evolve.
Moss and pond gardens
Not all Zen gardens are dry. Saiho-ji, known as the moss temple (Koke-dera), is famous for a garden carpeted in many kinds of moss around a pond. It is traditionally linked to the monk Muso Soseki, an influential Zen teacher and garden designer of the fourteenth century, although the garden has changed over the centuries and the moss grew in later periods. Visitors to Saiho-ji typically need to arrange entry in advance, and the rules and procedures change, so only the temple’s current official information should be relied on.
Tenryu-ji in Arashiyama also has a pond garden connected with Muso Soseki, and its landscape uses the mountains behind it as borrowed scenery. A pond garden with a pavilion, such as at Kinkaku-ji, is a related but different composition: water and reflection take the place of stone and gravel.
Borrowed scenery and the idea of viewing
Many Japanese gardens use the idea of shakkei, or borrowed scenery, in which distant hills or trees outside the garden wall become part of the composition. Gardens are also often designed to be seen from a particular position, such as a veranda or the abbot’s room, rather than walked through. This is one reason why a calm pace at the viewing spot matters.
How to view a Zen garden quietly
These are general suggestions; each temple will have its own rules.
- Arrive early or late in the day if you can. Famous gardens can be crowded, and a few minutes of stillness may be hard at midday.
- Remove your shoes where indicated and walk softly on wooden floors. The usual customs for temple entry customs and for Japanese temple etiquette apply.
- Sit rather than stand, if seating is provided, and allow several minutes before taking out a phone or camera. Some halls do not allow photography, and some visitors prefer not to take any.
- Do not step on gravel or moss, and do not touch the raked patterns, even though they can look tempting. The gardens are tended daily by hand.
- Keep voices low, and let other people have their space on the veranda.
- Let the garden be incomplete. A rock group may be a mountain, an island or a stone, and you do not have to decide. Some visitors find that looking without a guidebook reading for a while is worthwhile in itself.
Those who are interested in the practice that lies behind these gardens can think of it alongside meditation practice, though looking at a garden is not the same as zazen. Zen training takes place in a monastery with a teacher, and a temple visit is only a glimpse.
Planning a day
Kyoto’s Zen temples are spread across the city: Daitoku-ji and Ryoan-ji in the north-west, Nanzen-ji in the east, Tofuku-ji in the south-east, and Saiho-ji and Tenryu-ji in the far west. Travel times add up, so it is usually calmer to visit fewer places than to rush. Hours, entry fees and special openings change from season to season, and many temples have times when they are closed for ceremonies, so check each temple’s official information shortly before your visit.
Autumn and cherry season are the busiest. A garden in rain or in winter light is often more restful, though weather in Kyoto can be hot and humid in summer and cold in winter, so dress for the conditions.