Shinsenen (神泉苑) is a

Shingon file:Koyasan (Mount Koya) monks.jpg, Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks suc ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple located south of

Nijō Castle is a flatland castle in Kyoto, Japan. The castle consists of two concentric rings (Kuruwa) of fortifications, the Ninomaru Palace, the ruins of the Honmaru Palace, various support buildings and several gardens. The surface area of the castle is ...

in the approximate center of the modern city of

Kyoto Kyoto (; 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 metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It was founded by

Kūkai Kūkai (; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835Kūkai was born in 774, the 5th year of the Hōki era; his exact date of birth was designated as the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the Japanese lunar calendar, some 400 years later, by the Shingon sec ...

in 824 and predominantly consists of a large water garden centering about a pond. It is said to be the oldest existing garden in Kyoto.

History

First built in the year 794, the site was originally connected to the Heian Palace of that time and was used as a private garden for the Emperor. According to the records, the site originally extended approximately 400 meters from north to south and about 200 meters from east to west (500 meters and 240 meters according to different sources). In 863 a plague extended throughout the city and a sacred ritual to appease the angry spirits was held. Later, a total of 66 pikes (representing the regions of Japan of that time) were erected on the south end of the Shinsenen,

Mikoshi A is a sacred religious palanquin (also translated as portable Shinto shrine). Shinto followers believe that it serves as the vehicle to transport a deity in Japan while moving between main shrine and temporary shrine during a festival or when ...

from the Gion-jinja (today's

Yasaka Shrine Kanpei-taisha , once called , is a Shinto shrine in the Gion District of Kyoto, Japan. Situated at the east end of Shijō-dōri (Fourth Avenue), the shrine includes several buildings, including gates, a main hall and a stage. The Yasaka shrine is ...

) were brought in and a ritual was conducted. Over the years this became a local festival and the pikes were mounted on decorated carts, which is said to be the origin of the modern day

Gion Matsuri The is one of the largest and most famous festivals in Japan, taking place annually during the month of July in Kyoto. Many events take place in central Kyoto and at the Yasaka Shrine, the festival's patron shrine, located in Kyoto's famous Gion ...

. In 1603 when

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

built the

, a large portion of the garden's land was absorbed by the castle grounds, reducing its size. After 1607 the garden was reconstructed and later became a Buddhist temple of the Shingon school.

External links

Official website

References

Buddhist temples in Kyoto Shingon Buddhism Tōji Shingon temples Gardens in Kyoto Prefecture Pagodas in Japan Historic Sites of Japan 8th-century establishments in Japan Religious buildings and structures completed in 794 {{Japan-religious-struct-stub

History

See also

External links

References