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Ryōan-ji ( ja, 竜安寺, label=
Shinjitai are the simplified forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in ''shinjitai'' are also found in Simplified Chinese characters, but ''shinjitai'' is generally not as extensiv ...
, ja, 龍安寺, label=
Kyūjitai ''Kyūjitai'' ( ja, 舊字體 / 旧字体, lit=old character forms) are the traditional forms of kanji, Chinese written characters used in Japanese. Their simplified counterparts are ''shinjitai'' ( ja, 新字体, lit=new character forms, lab ...
, ''The Temple of the Dragon at Peace'') is a
Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
located in northwest
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...
, Japan. It belongs to the
Myōshin-ji is a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan, and head temple of the associated branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. The Myōshin-ji school is by far the largest school in Rinzai Zen, approximately as big as the other thirteen branches combined: it contains wit ...
school of the
Rinzai The Rinzai school ( ja, , Rinzai-shū, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (along with Sōtō and Ōbaku). The Chinese Linji school of Chan was first transmitted to Japan by Myōan ...
branch of Zen
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
. The Ryōan-ji garden is considered one of the finest surviving examples of ''
kare-sansui The or Japanese rock garden, often called a zen garden, is a distinctive style of Japanese garden. It creates a miniature stylized landscape through carefully composed arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees and bushes, and u ...
'' ("dry landscape"), a refined type of Japanese Zen temple garden design generally featuring distinctive larger rock formations arranged amidst a sweep of smooth pebbles (small, carefully selected polished river rocks) raked into linear patterns that facilitate meditation. The temple and its gardens are listed as one of the
Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto The UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities) encompasses 17 locations in Japan within the city of Kyoto and its immediate vicinity. In 794, the Japanese imperial family moved the capital to Heian- ...
, and as a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
.


History

The site of the temple was an estate of the
Fujiwara clan was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since the ancient times and dominated the imperial court until ...
in the 11th century. The first temple, the ''Daiju-in'', and the still existing large pond were built in that century by Fujiwara Saneyoshi. In 1450,
Hosokawa Katsumoto was one of the Kanrei, the Deputies to the Shōgun, during Japan's Muromachi period. He is famous for his involvement in the creation of Ryōan-ji, a temple famous for its rock garden, and for his involvement in the Ōnin War, which sparked the 1 ...
, another powerful warlord, acquired the land where the temple stood. He built his residence there, and founded a Zen temple, Ryōan-ji. During the
Ōnin War The , also known as the Upheaval of Ōnin and Ōnin-Bunmei war, was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the Muromachi period in Japan. '' Ōnin'' refers to the Japanese era during which the war started; the war ended during the Bun ...
between the clans, the temple was destroyed. Hosokawa Katsumoto died in 1473, and in 1488 his son, Hosokawa Masamoto, rebuilt the temple. The temple served as a mausoleum for several emperors. Their tombs are grouped together in what are today known as the "Seven Imperial Tombs" at Ryōan-ji. The burial places of these emperors— Uda,
Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...
, Ichijō,
Go-Suzaku was the 69th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 後朱雀天皇 (69)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Go-Suzaku's reign spanned the years from 1036 through 1045. This 11th-century sovereign was name ...
,
Go-Reizei was the 70th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 後冷泉天皇 (70)/ref> according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. Go-Reizei's reign spanned the years 1045–1068. This 11th century so ...
, Go-Sanjō, and Horikawa—would have been comparatively humble in the period after their deaths. These tombs reached their present state as a result of the 19th century restoration of imperial sepulchers (''misasagi'') which were ordered by Emperor Meiji. There is controversy over who built the garden and when. Most sources date it to the second half of the 15th century. According to some sources, it was built by Hosokawa Katsumoto, the creator of the first temple of Ryōan-ji, between 1450 and 1473. Other sources say it was built by his son, Hosokawa Masamoto, in or around 1488. Some say that the garden was built by the famous landscape painter and monk,
Sōami was a Japanese painter and landscape artist. Sōami was the grandson and son of the painters and art connoisseurs Nōami and Geiami, respectively. He was in the service of the Ashikaga shogunate who is claimed to have designed the rock garden of ...
(died 1525), but this is disputed by other authors.Young and Young, ''The Art of the Japanese Garden'', pp. 108–109. Some sources say the garden was built in the first half of the 16th century, others reckon later, during the
Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...
, between 1618 and 1680. There is also controversy over whether the garden was built by monks, or by professional gardeners, called ''kawaramono'', or a combination of the two. One stone in the garden has the name of two ''kawaramono'' carved into it, Hirokojirō and Kotarō. The conclusive history, though, based on documentary sources, is as follows: Hosokawa Katsumoto (1430–1473), deputy to the ''shōgun'', founded in 1450 the Ryōan-ji temple, but the complex was burnt down during the Ōnin War. His son Masamoto rebuilt the temple at the very end of the same century. It is not clear whether any garden was constructed at that time facing the main hall. First descriptions of a garden, clearly describing one in front of the main hall, date from 1680–1682. It is described as a composition of nine big stones laid out to represent Tiger Cubs Crossing the Water. As the garden has fifteen stones at present, it was clearly different from the garden that we see today. A great fire destroyed the buildings in 1779, and rubble of the burnt buildings was dumped in the garden. Garden writer and specialist Akisato Rito (died c. 1830) redid the garden completely on top of the rubble at the end of the eighteenth century and published a picture of his garden in his ''Celebrated Gardens and Sights of Kyoto'' (''Miyako rinsen meisho zue'') of 1799, showing the garden as it looks today. One big stone at the back was buried partly; it has two first names carved in it, probably names of untouchable stone workers, so called ''kawaramono''. There is no evidence of Zen monks having worked on the garden, apart from the raking of the sand.


Zen garden

The temple's name is synonymous with the temple's famous Zen garden, the ''
karesansui The or Japanese rock garden, often called a zen garden, is a distinctive style of Japanese garden. It creates a miniature stylized landscape through carefully composed arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees and bushes, and us ...
'' (dry landscape) rock garden, thought to have been built in the late 15th century. The garden is a rectangle of , twenty-five meters by ten meters. Placed within it are fifteen stones of different sizes, carefully composed in five groups; one group of five stones, two groups of three, and two groups of two stones. The stones are surrounded by white gravel, which is carefully raked each day by the monks. The only vegetation in the garden is some moss around the stones. The garden is meant to be viewed from a seated position on the veranda of the ''hōjō'', the residence of the abbot of the monastery. The stones are placed so that the entire composition cannot be seen at once from the veranda. The wall behind the garden is an important element of the garden. It is made of clay, which has been stained by age with subtle brown and orange tones. In 1977, the tile roof of the wall was restored with tree bark to its original appearance. When the garden was rebuilt in 1799, it came up higher than before and a view over the wall to the mountain scenery behind came about. At present this view is blocked by trees. The garden had particular significance for the composer John Cage, who composed a series of works and made visual art works based on it.


Meaning of the garden

Like any work of art, the artistic garden of Ryōan-ji is also open to interpretation or research into possible meanings. Many different theories have been put forward inside and outside Japan about what the garden is supposed to represent, from islands in a stream, a tiger family crossing a river, mountain peaks, to theories about secrets of geometry or the rules of equilibrium of odd numbers. Garden historian Gunter Nitschke wrote: "The garden at Ryōan-ji does not symbolize anything, or more precisely, to avoid any misunderstanding, the garden of Ryōan-ji does not symbolize, nor does it have the value of reproducing a natural beauty that one can find in the real or mythical world. I consider it to be an abstract composition of 'natural' objects in space, a composition whose function is to incite meditation."


Scientific analysis of the garden

In an article published by the science journal ''
Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
'', Gert van Tonder and Michael Lyons analyze the rock garden by generating a model of shape analysis (
medial axis The medial axis of an object is the set of all points having more than one closest point on the object's boundary. Originally referred to as the topological skeleton, it was introduced in 1967 by Harry Blum as a tool for biological shape recogn ...
) in early visual processing. Using this model, they show that the empty space of the garden is implicitly structured, and is aligned with the temple's
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
. According to the researchers, one critical
axis of symmetry Axial symmetry is symmetry around an axis; an object is axially symmetric if its appearance is unchanged if rotated around an axis.
passes close to the centre of the main hall, which is the traditionally preferred viewing point. In essence, viewing the placement of the stones from a sightline along this point brings a shape from nature (a dichotomously branched tree with a mean branch length decreasing monotonically from the trunk to the tertiary level) in relief. The researchers propose that the implicit structure of the garden is designed to appeal to the viewer's unconscious visual sensitivity to axial-symmetry skeletons of stimulus shapes. In support of their findings, they found that imposing a
random In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Individual ra ...
perturbation of the locations of individual rock features destroyed the special characteristics. Centuries after its creation, the influences of the dry elements at Ryōan-ji continue to be reflected and re-examined in garden design—for example, in the ''Japangarten'' at the
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is an art museum in central Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, opened 1994. It presents modern and contemporary art and is financed by the ''Kunststiftung Volkswagen.'' It takes up aspects of the industrial city of Wolfsburg, whic ...
in Germany.Japanese garden
; Kazuhisa Kawamura

excerpt, "''Die Proportion, die Dimension und die Art der Gestaltung beider Gärten sind fast identisch.''" (The proportion, the dimension and nature of the design of both gardens are almost identical).


Other gardens

While the rock garden is the best-known garden of Ryōan-ji, the temple also has a water garden; the Kyoyochi Pond, built in the 12th century as part of the Fujiwara estate. Cherry trees have recently been planted northwest of the pond. Ryōan-ji also has a teahouse and tea garden, dating to the 17th century. Near the teahouse is a famous stone water basin, with water continually flowing for ritual purification. This is the Ryōan-ji ''
tsukubai In Japan, a is a washbasin provided at the entrance to a holy place for visitors to purify themselves by the ritual washing of hands and rinsing of the mouth. This type of ritual cleansing is the custom for guests attending a tea ceremony o ...
'', which translates as "crouch"; because of the low height of the basin, the user must bend over to use it, in a sign of reverence and humility.Gustafson, Herb L. (1999)
''The Art of Japanese Gardens: Designing & Making Your Own Peaceful Space'', p. 78.
/ref> The
kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
written on the surface of the stone basin, 五, 隹, 止, 矢, are without significance when read alone. Though the water basin's frame is circular, the opening in the circular face is itself a square (口). If each of the four kanji is read in combination with 口 (the square-shaped radical is pronounced ''kuchi'', meaning "mouth" or "aperture"), which the square opening is meant to represent, then the characters become 吾, 唯, 足, 知. This is read as "ware, tada taru (wo) shiru", which translates literally as "I only sufficiency know" (吾 = ware = I, 唯 = tada = merely, only, 足 = taru = be sufficient, suffice, be enough, be worth, deserve, 知 = shiru = know) or, more poetically, as "I know only satisfaction". Intended to reinforce Buddhist teachings regarding humility and the abundance within one's soul, the meaning is simple and clear: "one already has all one needs". Meanwhile, the positioning of the ''tsukubai'', lower than the veranda on which one stands to view it, compels one to bow respectfully (while listening to the endless trickle of replenishing water from the bamboo pipe) to fully appreciate its deeper philosophical significance. The ''tsukubai'' also embodies a subtle form of Zen teaching using ironic
juxtaposition Juxtaposition is an act or instance of placing two elements close together or side by side. This is often done in order to compare/contrast the two, to show similarities or differences, etc. Speech Juxtaposition in literary terms is the showin ...
: while the ''shape'' mimics an ancient
Chinese coin Ancient Chinese coinage includes some of the earliest known coins. These coins, used as early as the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE), took the form of imitations of the cowrie shells that were used in ceremonial exchanges. The s ...
, the ''sentiment'' is the opposite of materialism. Thus, over many centuries, the ''tsukubai'' has also served as a humorous visual
koan A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term is the Sino-J ...
for countless monks residing at the temple, gently reminding them daily of their
vow of poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little . Notwithstanding the exquisite ''kare sansui'' rock garden on the opposite side of the building, the less-photographed Ryōan-ji tea garden is another cultural treasure of the temple.


Images

File:Ryoanji Temple EntranceKyoto.jpg, Entrance to the Temple territory File:Cherry blossom at the rock garden of Ryōan-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan.jpg, Cherry blossom at the rock garden of Ryōan-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan File:Ryoanji rock garden close up.jpg, Close up of the zen garden File:龍安寺 - panoramio (5).jpg, Grounds File:Ryoan-ji.JPG, Kyoyochi Pond, created in the 12th century as a water garden File:WalkAmidMaples2.jpg, Leaf peeping (''Momiji'') File:RyoanJi-Sanmon.jpg, ''
Sanmon A , also called , is the most important gate of a Japanese Zen Buddhist temple, and is part of the Zen '' shichidō garan'', the group of buildings that forms the heart of a Zen Buddhist temple.JAANUS It can be often found in temples of other de ...
'' gate to the temple File:Ryoanji Bell.jpg, Temple bell at Ryōan-ji File:Ryoanji Temple - Kuri Main Building Interior.jpg, Interior of the ''Kuri'', the main temple building File:Ryoan-ji 03.jpg, ''
Daisugi is a Japanese technique similar to coppicing, used on ''Cryptomeria'' () trees. The term roughly translates to "platform cedar". Shoots from the base of the tree are pruned so that the trunk stays straight. It is believed that the production o ...
'' trees at the gardens File:Ryuanji snow2.jpg, The garden outside the teahouse (winter) File:Lake outside Ryoan-ji Temple.jpg, Lake and bridge outside the ''Kuri'', the main hall (summer)


See also

*
List of Special Places of Scenic Beauty, Special Historic Sites and Special Natural Monuments To protect Japan's cultural heritage, the country's government selects through the Agency for Cultural Affairs important items and designates them as Cultural Properties under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. Designated items are ...
*
Higashiyama culture The Higashiyama culture (東山文化 ''Higashiyama bunka'') is a segment of Japanese culture that includes innovations in architecture, the visual arts and theatre during the late Muromachi period. It originated and was promoted in the 15th c ...
in
Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...
*
Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desi ...
* For an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Buddhism, Japanese Buddhist art, and Japanese Buddhist temple architecture, see the
Glossary of Japanese Buddhism This is the glossary of Japanese Buddhism, including major terms the casual (or brand-new) reader might find useful in understanding articles on the subject. Words followed by an asterisk (*) are illustrated by an image in one of the photo galle ...
. *
Tourism in Japan Japan attracted 31.88 million international tourists in 2019. Japan has 21 World Heritage Sites, including Himeji Castle, Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto and Nara. Popular foreigner attractions include Tokyo and Hiroshima, Mount F ...
*
List of compositions by John Cage This is a list of compositions by John Cage (1912–1992), arranged in chronological order by year of composition. List of works Apprenticeship period (1932–36) * ''Greek Ode'', for voice and piano (1932) * ''First Chapter of Ecclesiastes'' ...


Notes


References

*, Éditions Robert Lafont, Paris, () *Elisseeff, Danielle, (2010), ''Jardins japonais'', Ḗditions Scala, Paris, () *Gustafson, Herb L. (1999)
''The Art of Japanese Gardens: Designing & Making Your Own Peaceful Space''.
Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the So ...
,
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
:
David & Charles David & Charles Ltd is an English publishing company. It is the owner of the David & Charles imprint, which specialises in craft and lifestyle publishing. David and Charles Ltd acts as distributor for all David and Charles Ltd books and cont ...
. *''Kenkyusha's New Japanese–English Dictionary'', Kenkyusha Limited, Tokyo 1991, *Kuitert, Wybe, (1988) ''Themes, Scenes, and Taste in the History of Japanese Garden Art'', Japonica Neerlandica, Amsterdam,

*Kuitert, Wybe, (2002) ''Themes in the History of Japanese Garden Art'', Hawaii University Press, Honolulu, () *Moscher, Gouvernor. (1978)
''Kyoto: A Contemplative Guide''.
Tokyo:
Tuttle Publishing Tuttle Publishing, originally the Charles E. Tuttle Company, is a book publishing company that includes Tuttle, Periplus Editions, and Journey Editions.
. *Murase, Miyeko, (1996), ''L'Art du Japon'', La Pochothḕque, Paris, () *Nitschke, Gunter, (1999) ''Le Jardin japonais – Angle droit et forme naturelle'', Taschen publishers, Paris (translated from German into French by Wolf Fruhtrunk), () *Ritchie, Donald. (1995)
''The Temples of Kyoto''.
Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing. *''The Compact Nelson Japanese–English Character Dictionary'', Charles E. Tuttle Company, Tokyo 1999, *Whittington, Stephen. (2013)

''Digging in John Cage's Garden – John Cage and Ryoanji''. ''Malaysian Music Journal'', Vol. 2 No. 2. Tanjong Malim: UPSI Press. *Young, David and Michiko, (2005), ''The Art of the Japanese Garden'', Tuttle Publishing, Vermont and Singapore, () *Doczi, György, (1981). p 118-119. ''In Proportional harmonies in nature, art and architecture'', Shambhala, ()


Further reading

*


External links

*
Yamasa Institute's Ryoan-ji: History & Impressions

360 degree view (Google Cultural Institute)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryoan-Ji Buddhist temples in Kyoto Myoshin-ji temples Gardens in Kyoto Prefecture World Heritage Sites in Japan Rock art in Asia Zen art and culture Historic Sites of Japan Special Places of Scenic Beauty Important Cultural Properties of Japan Zen gardens