Kyōto: Ryōanji, Kōtō-in, and Yasaka shrine
|
Ryōanji (龍安寺, Peaceful Dragon Temple, Long An Tự)
|
Today we would again head up to the North West area of Kyoto for a visit to 2 other temples: Ryōanji and Daitoku-in. As usual, we headed out the door at 7 am to catch a bus from Gion to Kawaramachi-sanjo bus stop, where we boarded bus #59 heading to Ryōanji, which was close to Kinkakuji that we visited yesterday. We arrived shortly after the door opened (8 am).
The temple is of the Myoshinji school of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism. It's centered around the Kyoyochi pond (鏡容池). Making a counter-clockwise loop from the entrance along a viewing path (拝観順路, haikan junro) around this pond, the scenery was quite nice. First we peeked at a small boat house, then went on a long path leading to the main buildings. Along the way we saw some big boulders and a Buddha statue. A flight of stairs led to the Kuri building (Monks' Quarters). Two young ladies were washing and sweeping the front when we got there. You had to take off the shoes before stepping into the hall.
The main attraction was the karesansui (枯山水) rock garden in front of the Hōjō building (方丈, Phương Trượng, Abbot's chamber) which was attached to the Kuri building by a wide corridor. We sat on the veranda of the Hōjō to take in the austere Zen garden with its clusters of fifteen moss-edged rocks surrounded by waves of raked gravel. The rocks were in five groups, each comprising five, two, three, two, and three rocks. It's said that the rocks are arranged so that only 14 can be seen from any one vantage point, and that the 15th rock can only be seen upon attaining enlightenment.
The viewer draws their own interpretation of the arrangement, but for the worldly visitor a suggestion would be of a tiger crossing a mountain stream with its cub. If seen from the traditionally preferred viewing point near the entrance to the garden, with a seat along the deep wooden steps to one side of the garden, the rocks may also be said to form a dichotomously branched tree.
The gravel used in karesansui gardens such as this one is the Shirakawa-suna gravel from Shirakawa district of Kyoto. Each gravel has a soft whitish color dotted with black grains. Once raked, they hold their positions amazingly well thanks to their rough sides and rather large size.
The walls are made of clay boiled in oil. As time went by, some oil seeped out, creating these particular patterrns.
The Hōjō consisted of 6 tatami rooms but we didn't venture to the back to see the other 3, we only stayed on the veranda facing the rock garden looking at the 3 rooms facing south. The altar was in the center room, containing an image of Shaka Buddha (釈迦如来, Thích Ca Như Lai). The center room had a fusuma painting of a tree that resembled a dragon. This was to parallel opposite side (the door) which contained a painting of ascending and descending dragons. Then the West room on the South had a painting of Diamond Mountains of Korea in Winter. These paintings were recent ones made in the 1950s by Kakuo Satsuke.
Besides ourselves, there were only 1 other couple on the veranda. At the West side of the Hōjō was a tranquil moss garden, and a walkway that was out of access from visitors. After about 20 minutes of peaceful and quiet time, the first group of field-trip school kids descended on the scene.
|
Kōtō-in (高桐院, Cao Đồng Viện)
|
In the Daitokuji compound, this small sub-temple has a lovely mossy garden, famous for the scarlet colour (紅葉, koyo) of its maple trees in autumn.
Among the largest in Japan, Daitokuji (大徳寺, Đại Đức Tự) is a vast village-like compound containing 24 sub-temples. This compound belongs to the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism. Initially we wanted to visit 2 sub-temples: Daisen-in for its superb karesansui rock gardens, and Kōtō-in for the autumn foliage of its moss garden. Unfortunately Daisen-in was under renovation and the scaffolding obstructed the view of the rock gardens, so we only visited Kōtō-in. Admittance was charged separately at each sub-temple, and was ¥500 at Kōtō-in. What a beautiful temple! Right when we arrived at its gate, our breath was taken away. It's as if you were about to step into a rustic water-color painting! Kōtō-in was easily in our top 3 favorite places in Kyoto (the others were Kiyomizu-dera and Ginkakuji).
Founded by Shoso Gyokuho (玉甫 紹綜; uncle of Sansai) in 1601, and built by Hosokawa Tadaoki (細川忠興, aka 三斎, Sansai) a student of the famous tea master Sen-no-Rikyu (千利休), the temple was beautifully enclosed in a dense bamboo grove.
We were the only souls in the area when we passed the omote-mon gate, it was so quiet. We lingered along a stone-paved zen path (参道, sando) that took us through turn after turn. Each turn shifted our perspective, peeled away yet another layer of our worldly concerns, purified us as we walked under a mottled canopy of maples and bamboos, quieted our minds further with the silent moss-covered grounds. We forgot where we came from, we were immersed in the tranquility.
At the end of the path was a closed mossy gate, the other side of which was the simple rectangular garden of moss and maple trees, backed by bamboo. But don't rush to this garden just yet, instead make it the last stop, as there were other fascinating things to explore.
|
|
Teahouses
We took off our shoes before stepping onto the corridor. First there was the Shōkō-ken (松向軒, Tùng Hướng Hiên) tea house, used by Toyotomi Hideyoshi for his Great Kitano Tea Ceremony (北野大茶会; for more history, read here). Its rustic simplicity and its natural materials and colors provided a suitable backdrop for the elegance of the tea ceremony. Its intentional appearance should not be seen as gloominess or shabbiness, however, but one of peace and tranquillity, especially when looking out to the intimacy of the surrounding garden. The tea house had black-plastered wall. The black plaster was made from lime plaster (fiber and caustic lime for fireproofing walls) and ash or black ink. The crooked post in the middle is an example of Sansai's sensibilities and artistic tastes. Then true to the rustic and simplified theme, a single calligraphic scroll graced the tokonoma (recessed alcove).
The temple also had another graceful tea house, Horai (鳳来) at the northwest corner of the reception hall (客殿).
|
View Larger Map
| The teahouse garden
Both tea houses looked out to a densely planted garden, landscaped early in the Edo Period (1615-1868). Pink rubber clogs were provided so we could step down from the tea houses and walked along the stone paths traversing the garden. Close to the Horai teahouse stood a wash basin (oritsukubai 降り蹲踞), crafted from a foundation stone of the Front Gate of the Imperial Palace in Korea, and presented to Sansai by Kiyomasa Kato (加藤清正). It was placed below ground level, with stone steps leading down to it. This oritsukubai is said to be of the type kesagata (袈裟形, けさがた) because of the round shape and the striped Mongolian monk's robe (surplice) pattern.
Then there was an old well covered by the bamboo lid.
One path led to a corner of the garden where we found the graves of Lord Hosokawa and his wife Akechi Tama (more historically known by her baptismal name as Gracia, ガラシャ夫人), who was a devoted Catholic. Her grave was marked by Hosokawa's favorite stone lantern, a gift from Sen no Rikyū.
The private grave of Izumo-no-Okuni (出雲の阿国, dates unknown), the founder of the kabuki performance, is also here.
|
The drawing room
Connected to the teahouse was the Shoin Ihoku-ken (書院 意北軒, library, Thư Viện). It was once part of Rikyu's residence, moved here in the 7th year of Keicho (慶長) or AD 1602.
The guest hall
The Kyaku-den (客殿; the guest hall) had a Buddha altar. The spacious south-facing veranda of the hall ran along a simple moss and maple garden named Nan-tei (南庭; the South Garden). Next to the altar room there was another room with an alcove containing this hanging scroll which said One bird note makes the mountain more quiet (一啼山更幽)
Paintings
The temple contained many now National Treasures (国宝), such as two hanging scrolls (幅) dating back to the early 12th century. These masterpieces (名作, danh tác), done by the famous painter Rito of the Chinese Southern Sung period (李唐, Lí Đường), were landscape paintings ink-drawn on silk, and depicted the landscape of the Southern Sung period (南宋初期山水画).
Leaving Daitokuji, grocery shopping
We didn't know there were two high-quality Buddhist vegetarian restaurants in the compound, so we missed a good opportunity for Shojin ryori lunch here. One of them was Izusen which was on the grounds of the Daiji-in subtemple. You could reach it by following my map to Zuiho-in, then kept going till the end of the road. This famous shojin-ryori establishment specializes in teppatsu-ryori, a rather elaborate variation of Zen vegetarian cuisine. they offer nice views and outdoor garden seating. Lunch menus start at Y3150. They also have other branches in Kyoto and one in Tokyo (in the neighborhood of Yoga)
The bus stop for Daitokuji was right in front of a local grocery store, so we went in to check it out. This was what make Kyoto dear to us. In Tokyo it was hard to find a local grocery store, but Kyoto had that intimate lived-in atmosphere where everything seems to be within easy reach.
May be we were hungry, but we came out of that grocery store with bags of food and drinks, many of them were gone by lunch time.
|
Though we stayed right at the doorstep of Yasaka jinja and its expansive public park, we didn't visit it until now. After many days running around all over the city, we made it a relaxed afternoon by crossing the street to see what's there in Yasaka area. We started the loop further south and walked our way north.
Most of the afternoon was spent along the often-hilly narrow cobbled streets of Nene-no-michi, Yasaka-dori, Ninen-zaka, Sannen-zaka, browsing the gift shops, food stands and restaurants, feasting our senses on the cute and tidy lanes and its picture-perfect houses and shops, watching people snapping photos of tourists in kimonos.
Many of the shops were in houses that contained a small enclosed courtyard within. We had always wanted to create something like this for our own house remodeling, so it was a great learning opportunity.
We stopped by Rikiya, the ryokan that didn't have the room we wanted.
We took some photos of Yasaka-no-to, the 5-storied pagoda in the area, and also of Gion-kaku, a steeple with a phoenix on top.
Finally we reached Yasaka jinja (八坂神社). Also known as Gion shrine, it is the guardian of the Gion district and is sometimes referred to with its old name of Gion-sha. It is basically just about 20-30 minute walk north of Kiyomizu-dera, both places connected via a network of narrow beautiful lanes of the Higashiyama district. You can't miss the big red gate of the shrine when travelling along Shijo-dori street which ends right at the gate.
The shrine is right next to Kyoto's most popular if not biggest public park, Maruyama-koen (円山公園). We found many many people in the park enjoying the afternoon, tourists as well as locals, since it was Friday.
We didn't spend much time in the shrine or the park, as we prefered the lovely atmosphere of the surrounding neighborhoods.
From Yasaka, we walked west along Shijo-dori and surrounding side streets for some more shopping and people watching, stopping for dinner at an inexpensive okonomiyaki house.
|
|
