{"id":491,"date":"2007-06-16T00:15:22","date_gmt":"2007-06-15T15:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-06-16\/491"},"modified":"2007-06-30T19:31:07","modified_gmt":"2007-06-30T10:31:07","slug":"an-introduction-to-kyotos-gioji-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-06-16\/491","title":{"rendered":"An Introduction to Kyoto’s Giouji Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>30 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLots of Moss at the Giouji Temple<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

After one of my posts about a recent visit to the Nanzenji\nTemple<\/a>, my mom mentioned in a comment<\/span><\/a>\nthat one of her books\non moss gardening<\/a> mentions a Giouji Temple<\/a> in Kyoto for its nice mossy\nscenes (and I realize<\/span> today that you can see at\nAmazon<\/a> that the back cover features a photo<\/span> from the temple).<\/p>\n\n

So today, I headed<\/span> across the city to the far western edge of Kyoto to\nvisit the Giouji Temple (\u7947\u738b\u5bfa<\/span> — pronounced with three distinct\nsyllables: “gi” with a hard<\/span> G<\/b>, an “ou”\n(which makes a lengthed<\/span> “o” sound like in the English\n“boa<\/b>t”), and a final<\/span> “ji”).<\/p>\n\n

It's not even really a temple, but more of a little<\/span> hermitage, as the\nsupplied English pamphlet notes. There's only one small building with a few<\/span>\npartitions, appropriate perhaps for meditation or having some tea, but not\nbig enough for much else. All in all<\/span>, it's all about the gardens, which are\nsuperb<\/b>.<\/p>\n\n

Whatever it is, I'm extremely<\/i> enamored with it. It's my new<\/span>\nfavorite garden, and my new favorite secret of Kyoto. It's way off<\/span> the\nbeaten path... it's quite, supremely serene, and uncrowded (no bus loads of\ntourists will show up; compare with the last photo in this Kiyomizu Temple<\/a> post). It's very small<\/span>, but having spent more than an hour enjoying and taking\npictures, there are still sections that I didn't<\/span> get to.<\/p>\n\n

Of the photos I took, I have 133<\/span> “keepers,” most of which I\nwant<\/span> to share here on my blog. Today's post is just an introduction to the\ngrounds; subsequent posts will concentrate on the mosses<\/a> (some 18\ndifferent types), the small hermitage, a few<\/span> photogenic snails, two\ndifferent posts on the wall architectures (short walls<\/a> and tall walls<\/a>), and probably\na few<\/span> other things.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 23mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>40 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGiouji as Seen From the Street<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Up a few steps, turn left, and you have this long entrance path...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 18mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>50 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPath up to the Entrance<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Up and around the corner to the right, you see the entrance gate (left\nin the photo below) and the posting of entrance fees on the wall: 100 yen\nfor elementary school kids, 300 yen for middle-school kids, 300 yen for\nhigh-school kids, and 300 yen for adults; that's about 80 cents and $2.50,\nrespectively.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 18mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nEntrance<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 17mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>40 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMain Garden<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The entire grounds are really quite small, so the main garden area and\nthe path that goes around it are, of course, even smaller. Yet, even within\nthe small area there are many sections that have their own distinct look\nand atmosphere, and each presents a different<\/span> face as you walk around, so\nby the time you get around, it feels as if you've covered a few<\/span> miles of\nwonderful variety. It's amazing<\/span> and defies all explanation..<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 26mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>40 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAround One Corner...<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 17mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n...To Another.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 31mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOccasionally, Other Colors as Well<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 35mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f\/4, ISO 800,\n —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nStone Lantern and Other Garden Features<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 30mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFormal Entrance Gate<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

It's perhaps difficult to see in the shot above, but in the middle is a\ngate<\/span> with a large<\/span> thatched roof. The path around<\/span> the main garden goes\nthrough this, but turns to follow the garden. However, a wider<\/span> path leads\ndown to a door<\/span> in the fence, opened, I'd speculate, only for VIPs and the\noccasional visiting landscaper. You can see<\/span> the gate and the thatched roof\nin the second image of this post (“Giouji as Seen From the Street”)<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 55mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>40 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nThe Smallest of Streams<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 18mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>50 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nExit Path<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Everything about this place exudes serenity. The design, the gardening,\nthe architecture.... it's all of the highest caliber. It's not the<\/span> kind of\nfancy superficial “high class” you find at stuffy five-star hotels, but the\nresult of what one extremely skilled person might produce for herself\nduring a lifetime<\/span> of devotion (which is apparently what happened: the site\nhas been a temple<\/span> or nunnery or something for most of the last thousand\nyears, but it exists in its present state mostly due to the work of a\nformer<\/span> Geisha, “Chishoni,” who passed away in 1994).<\/p>\n\n

Everything is simple and understated, letting nature do the talking. All the construction<\/span> materials are natural, and much of it is rotting or\notherwise going back to nature to some extent or another, to be replaced\nonly when it can no longer serve its function. The walls, fences, paths, signs,\nand such are as much part of the garden as the mosses.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 17mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>90 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLooking Back Down the Entrance Path<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

As can be seen in the photo above, along the path leading to the\nentrance is a small<\/span> wood and bamboo display. It holds<\/span> a hand<\/span>-drawn map of\nthe area, highlighting the path to other temples and public transport.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 17mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f\/6.3, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLooking Out at the Street<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

What looks like a path in the shot above is the public street, which\ndead-ends at the temple. The wall at<\/span> left is unrelated to the temple; at\nright is a small<\/span> parking and turn-around area.<\/p>\n\n \n\n\n

I was the only visitor for much of the time during the hour I was<\/span> there. At various<\/span> times pairs of elderly Japanese would walk through with their\ntaxi driver, and at one point a dozen<\/span> or so extremely well behaved\nmiddle-school kids came through. But for the<\/span> most part, it was my\ngarden.<\/p>\n\n

Sometimes I feel as if the camera is something that separates me from\nthe things I photograph<\/span> (Anthony playing, visiting a famous<\/span> spot, etc.),\nbut in this case the camera helped me to slow down and appreciate at a much<\/span>\nfiner level of detail. A few years<\/span> ago I would<\/span> have walked in, thought it\nwas wonderful as I strolled<\/span> around, and been gone after 10 minutes. Now, I enjoy<\/span> every detail, and appreciate the small touches that I didn't<\/span> even\nnotice before.<\/p>\n\n

I can't wait to go back again, preferably with Fumie. It's also supposed<\/span>\nto be breathtaking in the fall, so that's on my list, too.<\/p>\n\n

Interestingly enough, I'd headed<\/span> over to Western Kyoto with the\nintention to visit Saihouji<\/a>,\nalso known as Kokedera, “The Moss Temple<\/a>.” I\nthought<\/span> to stop by the tiny Giouji just so I could<\/span> tell my mom that I did,<\/span>\nbut what I found<\/span> was so wonderful that I ran<\/span> out of time to continue on to\nthe moss temple.<\/p>\n\n

I was thrilled enough with what I found<\/span> at Giouji, but this evening while\nwriting this post, I found<\/span> that I was<\/span> even luckier than I had<\/span> thought, for\nit turns out that to visit the Moss Temple, one must pre-apply for a visit<\/span>\nby postcard at least a week<\/span> in advance, and once granted, must pay a fee<\/span>\n10× that of Giouji and perform a couple<\/span> of hours worth of zen stuff\n(meditation, chanting, copying sutras, etc.) before being allowed in.\nDoh! I'll pass.<\/p>\n\n

So, double-thanks for the tip, Mom!<\/p>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After one of my posts about a recent visit to the Nanzenji Temple, my mom mentioned in a comment that one of her books on moss gardening mentions a Giouji Temple in Kyoto for its nice mossy scenes (and I realize today that you can see at Amazon that the back cover features a photo from the temple).<\/p>

So today, I headed across the city to the far western edge of Kyoto to visit the Giouji Temple (\u7947\u738b\u5bfa -- pronounced with three distinct syllables: \"gi\" with a hard G<\/b>, an \"ou\" (which makes a lengthed \"o\" sound like in the [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"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=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}