Nanzen-ji

Nanzen-ji is a head temple of the Rinzai school of Zen in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto. According to the temple, the retired Emperor Kameyama took Buddhist vows in 1289 at his villa, the Zenrinji-den, and in 1291 he turned the villa into a Zen temple, inviting the Zen master Mukan Fumon (Daimin Kokushi) as its founder. Mukan died in December of that same year, and Kian Soen, who became the second abbot the following year, spent about 15 years building the temple halls. For this reason Kian is also called the founding builder. Nanzen-in, within the grounds, stands on the site of the villa and is regarded as the birthplace of Nanzen-ji.

The National Treasure is one building, the Hojo (Abbot's Quarters), made up of the Large Hojo and the Small Hojo joined behind it. It was designated in 1953 and is dated to the Momoyama period. The temple explains that the Large Hojo was rebuilt in 1611 using a palace building granted by the imperial court. Temple tradition holds that it was the Seiryoden hall of the imperial palace from the Tensho era, but the temple itself notes another view that it was the audience hall of a retired empress's palace. The Small Hojo dates from the Kan'ei era and is said to come from Fushimi Castle. The Large Hojo has a hip-and-gable roof and the Small Hojo a gabled rear roof, both covered with wooden shingles.

Inside, the Large Hojo was originally decorated throughout with wall paintings (Important Cultural Properties) by painters of the Kano school from the early Momoyama period. As they had deteriorated, 84 of the 124 panels were moved into storage in 2011, and the rooms now show 84 new panels painted from digital photographs of the originals. The Small Hojo holds 40 panels of tigers attributed to Kano Tan'yu, and the room is known as the Tiger Room. The name of the central south room, the Ohiru-no-ma, along with the carved transoms of the veranda, the ceilings and the wooden doors, are said to preserve the look of the building when it was part of the palace.

The garden in front of the Hojo is a dry landscape garden of the early Edo period attributed to Kobori Enshu. Known as the Tiger Cubs Crossing garden, it is a designated Place of Scenic Beauty. On a site long from east to west, the large rock groupings are set along the wall toward the far left, while wide areas of white sand are left open in front and to the right. Laying large stones on their sides is described as a composition that moves away from gardens depicting Buddhist cosmology, such as Mount Sumeru or the isle of Horai. There are also the Joshin-tei garden of the Small Hojo, made in 1966 with stones laid out in the shape of the character for heart, and the Rokudo garden, with stones set in cedar moss.

If you walk the grounds along with the Hojo, the Sanmon Gate (Important Cultural Property), rebuilt in 1628 by Todo Takatora, stands about 22 meters tall, its Zen-style mass and rows of pillars giving it a powerful presence. Beside the grounds runs the Lake Biwa Canal, begun in 1885 and completed in 1890, and its red-brick arched aqueduct has become part of the temple scenery. Further in, Nanzen-in keeps a pond-and-stroll garden said to date from the late Kamakura period, where you can trace the days when this was an imperial villa.