{"id":50,"date":"2005-08-01T23:07:12","date_gmt":"2005-08-01T14:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/other-writings\/a-visit-to-ryouan-temple-kyoto"},"modified":"2005-11-29T12:17:22","modified_gmt":"2005-11-29T03:17:22","slug":"a-visit-to-ryouan-temple-kyoto","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/other-writings\/a-visit-to-ryouan-temple-kyoto","title":{"rendered":"A Visit to Ryouan Temple (Kyoto, Japan)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/div>\n\n

\n(Also see my autumn visit<\/a> post for some wonderful fall colors<\/i>)\n\n<\/p>

\n\nLast week (Jul 27, 2005), Fumie and I visited Ryouanji (\u9f8d\u5b89\u5bfa — the\nRyouan Temple) in the north-west part of Kyoto (map<\/a>). It's sort of<\/span> at the edge of the built-up city: it's close, but once you're\non the grounds, it feels as if you're in the middle of nowhere. It's quite<\/span> picturesque. It was wonderfully<\/span> uncrowded (the nearby ultra-popular Golden Pavilion<\/a> (\u91d1\u95a3\u5bfa\n-- Kinkakuji) probably draws the crowds — all the better to leave this\nplace deserted for us!)<\/p>\n\n

Perhaps it was because I'd been out of Japan for the previous three\nmonths, but I was quite taken with the grounds. (The temple is perhaps best\nknown for its rock garden, which didn't do much for me.) The grounds have a\npond with a little island, with a quaint arched bridge going across to it. The lake is<\/span> surrounded by quiet paths.<\/p>\n\n

I took a lot of pictures, and many of them came out quite nicely, I\nthink. In particular, I think<\/span> a number of them would make nice desktop\nbackgrounds.<\/p>\n\n
\n\n

Here are a few shots across the lake to the bridge. This is pretty much\nthe first view one gets of the lake:<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n\n<\/a><\/td>\n\n<\/a><\/td>\n\n<\/tr><\/table>\n\n

As with all of these pictures, try the “large” or “massive” version and\nyou'll be able to appreciate them more (if your browser automatically\nshrinks large pictures to fit, you may want to try clicking on the picture\nto expand it a bit).<\/p>\n\n

<\/a><\/td>Even the walk from the (free for\nthe first hour!) parking is nice, with a little moss\ngarden....<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
<\/a><\/td>...followed by a nicely done\nsmall area of shops and the bathrooms.<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
\n\n
Near the island are a bunch of Lily pads\n(or whatever they're called — they were pretty). <\/td><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
\n\n

Someone was kind enough to take our picture while we sat on the little\narched bridge:<\/p>

<\/a><\/p>\n\n
<\/a><\/td>(This shot of Fumie alone that I\ntook is a bit nicer than the one above. I'll leave it to you to decide if\nit's better because I took the shot, or because I'm not in it\n\ud83d\ude42<\/b><\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
\n\n
Near the entrance to the temple proper was a\nsmall “purification” basin with water running out of a bamboo spout. I tried<\/span> to get an artistic shot, but didn't really get it.<\/td><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>Here's the famous rock garden\nitself, which dates from the 15th century (rocks last a long time). It's inside<\/span> the temple, which has a 500 yen ($5) admission, which is not\nrequired for just touring the grounds. Most people we saw during the trip\nwhere sitting by this rock garden, but it didn't really do much for me. I guess<\/span> I lack Zen.<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>Here's what remained after a\ncouple of large groups cleared out.<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
<\/a><\/td>As for me, I found<\/span> this doorway\nto be more interesting (it's just to the left of where I was sitting when I\ntook the rock-garden picture above)<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
Follow the veranda\npast the rock garden, turn right, and you find this pleasant little\nhideaway<\/td><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
This view might make a nice desktop\nbackground.<\/td><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
<\/a><\/td>Continue along the veranda and\nturn right again, and you come across this little wash\nbasin.<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
<\/a><\/td>There is a center\nsquare with four partial Chinese characters around it. The square<\/span> symbol\ncompletes each partial character (albeit in a lopsidedly large way) to\ncreate four characters that mean “I learn to be only contented (in this\nimperfect world)”. This type of basin is to be used to purify oneself\nbefore entering the tea room to partake in the tea ceremony, or something\nlike that.<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
<\/a><\/td>Back out on the public grounds,\nthe path on the far side of the lake was beautiful and serene..... and also\npleasantly deserted.<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
<\/a><\/td>A little stream leading off\nsomewhere....<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
<\/a><\/td>A sub-path leading off\nsomewhere....<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n

Looking back across the lake to the side we\nstarted on:<\/p>

<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\n\n
Near the end, you see this little road\nleading away. It may be<\/span> hard to imagine, but just out of view around the\ncorner is a major city street.<\/td><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
\n\n

(Here's a link to all\nthe photos<\/a> taken during the trip.)<\/p>\n\n

(Here's a post about an autumn visit to Ryouanji<\/a> with many colorful shots.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Also see my autumn visit post for some wonderful fall colors) <\/p>

Last week (Jul 27, 2005), Fumie and I visited Ryouanji (\u9f8d\u5b89\u5bfa -- the Ryouan Temple) in the north-west part of Kyoto (map). It's sort of at the edge of the built-up city: it's close, but once you're on the grounds, it feels as if you're in the middle of nowhere. It's quite picturesque. It was wonderfully uncrowded (the nearby ultra-popular Golden Pavilion (\u91d1\u95a3\u5bfa -- Kinkakuji) probably draws the crowds -- all the better to leave this place deserted for us!)<\/p>

Perhaps it was because I'd been out [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":51,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/50"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/50\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}