No trees and no rocks in South Garden (Photo: Tomoko Kamishima)

Kyoto Ryogin-an Temple

Three colors...Three gardens

Tomoko Kamishima   - 1 min read

One of the sub-temples of Tofuku-ji Temple, Ryogin-in was once a residence of Mukan Fumon (Tofuku-ji’s 3rd abbot). In 1964, three gardens were designed around the main building by a modern artist, Shigemori Mirei (1896-1975). He expressed the 'nothingness' of Zen (South garden - white), a dragon from the sea (West garden - black), and a 'foxes and a boy' story (East garden - red) in each garden. Three different colors of sand make up completely different images in each of the three gardens. Ryogin-an Temple is open to the public between March 14-16, and November 1-30.

Tomoko Kamishima

Tomoko Kamishima @tomoko.kamishima

Japan is a small island nation, but we have a huge number of surprising things to discover here. Many of these delights can be found when you step off the main street onto small side paths. I really enjoy studying about and researching various aspects of traditional Japanese culture, and then sha...