is one of the sub-temples of

Myōshin-ji is a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan, which serves as the 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: ...

, a

Rinzai school The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school, Linji s ...

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

in the Hanazono neighborhood of Ukyō-ku in the city of

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is one of the few of Myōshin-ji's sub-temples which are normally open to the public.

Overview

The temple was founded in 1404 by Hatano Shigemichi, a local warlord from

Echizen Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area that is today the northern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Echizen bordered on Kaga Province, Kaga, Wakasa Province, Wakasa, Hida Province, Hida, and Ōmi Provin ...

, in the Senbon-dori Matsubara neighborhood of Kyoto, with third head of Myōshin-ji, Muin Sōin (無因宗), as its founder. It was later moved to the grounds of Myōshin-ji by Niho Soshun. It was destroyed (along with the rest of Myōshin-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 name, Japanese era during which the war started; the war ende ...

, but was rebuilt in 1597 by Kinen Zenyu, a devoted devotee of

Emperor Go-Nara was the 105th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned from June 9, 1526, until his death in 1557, during the Sengoku period of the Muromachi period, Muromachi Bakufu. His personal name was Tomohito (知仁) ...

. The temple is entered from the east via a simple gate. The abbot's residence (方丈 Hōjō), completed in 1602, is usually not open to the public. The ''

fusuma In Japanese architecture, are vertical rectangular panels which can slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a room, or act as doors. They typically measure about wide by tall, the same size as a ''tatami'' mat, and are thick. The ...

'' sliding screen paintings inside were painted by artist Murabayashi Yuki in 2022. Previously, there were paintings by Kanō Ryōkei (a senior disciple of

Kanō Mitsunobu Kanō Mitsunobu (, 1565–1608) was a son of Kanō Eitoku and an influential artist of the Kanō school of Japanese painting. Biography Scholars disagree on the year of Mitsunobu's birth, placing it in either 1561 or 1565. The earliest record o ...

), a painter of the

Kanō school The is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. The Kanō school of painting was the dominant style of painting from the late 15th century until the Meiji era, Meiji period which began in 1868, by which time the school had divided i ...

in the late

Momoyama period Momoyama may refer to: History *Azuchi–Momoyama period, the final phase of the Sengoku period in Japanese history 1568–1600 People * Ion Momoyama, Japanese singer and voice actor * Momoyama Kenichi (1909–1991), Korean prince and cavalry offi ...

, but as they had deteriorated significantly, they were replaced by Murabayashi's paintings. The building is a National Important Cultural Property. Adjacent to the Hōjō to the north is the

Shoin is a type of audience hall in Japanese architecture that was developed during the Muromachi period. The term originally meant a study and a place for lectures on the sūtra within a temple, but later it came to mean just a drawing room or stu ...

, which also includes a

Japanese tea ceremony The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or lit. 'Hot water for tea') is a Culture of Japan, Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . The term "Japa ...

room called the "Kakoi-no-seki". Adjacent to the Hōjō to the west is a small ''Karesansui''

Japanese dry garden 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 ...

, and to the south is an extensive garden called the . Taizō-in holds one of Japan's oldest ink paintings, , c.1413, by , which is a

National Treasure of Japan Some of the National Treasures of Japan A is " Tangible Cultural Properties designated by law in modern Japan as having extremely high value." Specifically, it refers to buildings, arts, and crafts designated as especially valuable from ...

. It is identified as a turning point in

Muromachi The , also known as the , is a division of History of Japan, Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially establ ...

painting, and represents a Zen ''

koan A ( ; ; zh, c=公案, p=gōng'àn ; ; ) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement from Chinese Chan Buddhist lore, supplemented with commentaries, that is used in Zen Buddhist practice in different ways. The main goal of practice in Z ...

''.

Taizō-in Garden

This is dry landscape garden said to have been created by

Kanō Motonobu was a Japanese people, Japanese Japanese painting, painter and Japanese calligraphy, calligrapher. He was a member of the Kanō school of painting. Through his political connections, patronage, organization, and influence he was able to make the ...

(1476–1559), the founder of the Kanō school, and who was better known as a painter. It contains many features numerous garden stones arranged in a dynamic way, including one representing Mount Hōrai, and a dry waterfall flowing into the ocean is expressed using white sand. The planting is mostly

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

, including

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

, and Japanese umbrella pine. It covers 50

tsubo A ''pyeong'' (abbreviationpy) is a Korean unit of area (mathematics), area and floorspace, equal to a square ''kan (unit), kan'' or 36square Korean feet. The ''ping'' and ''tsubo'' are its equivalent Taiwanese units, Taiwanese and Japanese units ...

(170 m²) and was designed to integrate a borrowing of scenery ("shakkei") of a view of Narabigaoka Hill in the distance. The garden was designated a National Historic Site and National Place of Scenic Beauty in 1931. A new pond garden, or yoko-en, was designed by

Kinsaku Nakane Kinsaku Nakane (1917 – 1 March 1995) was a landscape garden designer, builder, restorer, and professor. He was the president of the Nakane Garden Research Institute and president of the Osaka University of Fine Arts. Nakane studied city planni ...

in 1963–1966. The new garden is large enough for visitors to walk in, and contains

azalea Azaleas ( ) are flowering shrubs in the genus ''Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections ''Rhododendron sect. Tsutsusi, Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and ''Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate ...

s and a stream that cascades along the main axis, directly toward the main viewing position. The stream flows around rocks, gradually widening until it empties into a pool in front of the viewer. Myoshinji taizoin01n2040.jpg, Kuri Taizo Motonobu.jpg, Motonobu's Garten Garden, Taizō-in, Myōshin-ji temple, Kyoto - Jun 20, 2015.jpg, Motonobu-no-niwa Myoshinji taizoin05s3.jpg, Taizō-in Garden Myoshinji taizoin07s3.jpg, Taizō-in Garden Taizō-in is located a ten-minute walk from Hanazono Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

Sagano Line The is the popular name for a portion of the Sanin Main Line in the suburbs of Kyoto, Japan. The electrified and double-tracked railway is a commuter rail line in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto, Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto Metropolitan Area, owned and operated by W ...

References

External links

Official home pageJapanese garden guide

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taizo-in 1404 establishments in Asia 1400s establishments in Japan Buddhist temples in Kyoto Historic Sites of Japan Places of Scenic Beauty Myoshin-ji temples

Overview

Taizō-in Garden

See also

References

External links