14th Century Garden in the Tenryu-ji Temple in Arashiyama

Most of the standing structures at the Tenryu-ji Temple were the work of the Meiji period in the 19th century due to many significant fires. However, the Sogenchi Garden was the very original that was designed by founding abbot Muso Soseki in the 14th century. One dominant theme of the temples in the Arashiyama region is that they are representatives of Zen Buddhism. The Tenryu-ji Temple in Arashiyama is considered the top temple for Zen Buddhism, specifically the Rinzai school of the Zen tradition. For this reason alone, you should definitely pay a visit at the Tenryu-ji Temple.


Before the official founding of the Tenryu-ji Temple, the same site had a long history intertwined in both imperial and religious heritage. “In the ninth century Empress Tachibana no Kachiko founded the temple Danrin-ji, Japan’s first Zen temple, on the present site of Tenryu-ji. After the temple fell into disrepair the site was used by the emperors Go-Saga and Kameyama as a detached palace (in the 13th century).” (tenryuji.com). Due to Danrin-ji’s history as its predecessor, the Tenryu-ji is recognized as the first Zen temple of Japan


The Temple has a suggested scenic route for tourists to immerse in its beautiful natural envrionment. At this time of the year, the evergreen of the bamboo at Tenryu-ji Temple is juxtaposed with the unbridled flush of the red foliage, as if nature murmured joy through the curtain of bamboo stillness with the boisterous ruffles of a clever red muse. I soaked in the generous sunshine of the day and wished that I could stay.


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Post by Helen Yu (Chestnut Journal) | Feb 20, 2025