Ryoan-ji
Kyoto Travel Packages
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9 Day Japan Tour: Fixed Departure
Tokyo(3N) → Kyoto(2N) → Osaka(3N)
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Japan 15 Days
Tokyo(5N) → Kyoto(4N) → Osaka(4N) → Hiroshima(1N)
Japan Explorer: 8 Nights Tokyo, Kyoto & Osaka Adventure
Tokyo(3N) → Kyoto(2N) → Osaka(3N)
Customized Holiday in Japan
Tokyo(4N) → Kyoto(2N) → Osaka(2N)
9-Day Japan Highlights: Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, and Osaka Adventure
East of Tokyo(3N) → Fujikawaguchiko(1N) → Kyoto(2N) → Osaka...
Japan Highlights: 6 Nights Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, Kyoto and Osaka Tour
Tokyo(2N) → Kyoto(2N) → Osaka(2N)
"Kyoto's famous dry-landscape garden of fifteen stones and raked white gravel."
Ryoan-ji, Kyoto Overview
Ryoan-ji is a Zen Buddhist temple in northwest Kyoto, founded in 1450 by the warlord Hosokawa Katsumoto and affiliated with the Myoshin-ji branch of Rinzai Zen. It is known worldwide for its kare-sansui dry-landscape garden: fifteen rocks arranged in raked white gravel inside a low earthen wall, viewed from the veranda of the hojo, or abbot's hall. The garden's present layout dates to around 1799. Ryoan-ji is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, inscribed in 1994.
Ryoan-ji occupies a former Fujiwara estate that Hosokawa Katsumoto converted into a Zen temple in 1450; it was rebuilt by his son after being destroyed in the Onin War. The rock garden, roughly 25 by 10 meters, holds fifteen stones grouped in five clusters on raked gravel, with no plants beyond scattered moss. From most points along the veranda only fourteen stones are visible at once, a detail behind long-running debate over the garden's intended meaning. The grounds also include a larger strolling garden with a pond, Kyoyochi, and a stone water basin inscribed with a Zen teaching on contentment.
