Japan Paths

Japanese Gardens are a highlight amongst the sights in Japan and there are quite some hidden gems in and around Kyoto. For many Kyoto is about famous shrines & temples, Edo-style quarters with souvenir shopping and restaurants and of course legendary Japanese gardens.

I picked 5 of the most beautiful ones for this post. The first three you could do in one or better two days in Kyoto and the other two as a day trip to the northern village of Ohara.

Tenryu-ji

Tenryu-ji is Kyoto’s most famous Zen temple and therefore it’s Zen garden is especially worth seeing. The temple was founded about 700 years ago and it’s landscape garden is one of the oldest in Japan. It is close to the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. So you can combine your visit of Tenryu.ji’s gardens with a walk through the bamboo forest.

Zen gardens are not only about beauty, but about meditation and inner stillness. These Japanese gardens contain a lot of elements like raked sand and arranged stones to resample nature. Their design expects you to view the garden from a certain perspective. However, the Tenryu-ji garden combines that with the strolling-garden principle. There you have a fixed round way to have ever changing views. The landscape consists of a big pond with Koi fish surrounded by rocks and pine trees. It has typical stone lanterns and a lot of plants carefully gardened and changing with the seasons. Every time you come around a corner the beauty of the garden stuns you again.

The Ninomaru garden in Nijo Castle

You won’t come around this garden when you visit Nijo Castle. It starts right after passing in through the main gate (Great East Gate). It is a landscape garden commissioned by the first shogun of the Edo period, so not as old as the Tenryu-ji garden with around 400 years. On the other hand the garden has an even bigger pond than the Tenryu-ji with three islands symbolizing a Chinese myth of the Islands of the Immortals. The islands are connected by wooden or stone bridges and the pond features an extremely beautiful waterfall. That this natural looking pond is man-made is really unbelievable. The castle next to the garden creates a majestical atmosphere.

I wonder why Japanese gardens are not pushed more on social media. It feels like you only see the Fushimi Inari Taisha toriis and the bamboo forests there😊 – which are great of course.

The Murin-an

This garden is truly a hidden gem amongst Japanese gardens in Kyoto is attracting not that many tourists. That makes strolling around there really enjoyable as you have it almost for yourself. It is the garden of a former general and nowadays the villa together with its garden are open for the public with a small entrance fee. Some of the buildings are like a museum, but the main building has become a cute tea house. There you can sip Matcha and snack some Japanese sweets while enjoying the garden view through open sliding panels. The garden maintains a serene and calming atmosphere by prohibiting to take pictures of the garden with persons in it. At least it does not prohibit childern under the age of 12 years, as the Imperial Katsura villa with its famous Japanese garden does.

When you walk around the Murin-an, then you will spot very fascinating views. You will be walking over stone bridges, around ponds and passing stone lanterns. For more infos about the garden visit its official homepage which is also available in English.

The Jakko-in Garden

This Japanese garden is a pearl just 40 minutes by bus from central Kyoto in the mountain village Ohara, and it is very understated. The Jakko-in temple dates back 1400 years and it was a prince who built it. It is deeply atmospheric and tranquil – a world away from the bustle of Kyoto. It is small, but very intimate featuring a small pond, moss-covered stones and seasonal flowers. Embedded in the surrounding forest it is especially beautiful in autumn when it glows in red and golden leaves. What adds to the atmosphere is the walk up the many narrow stone stairs up to the temple gate. When you pass through the temple you circle back to the stairs through a forest path passing a museum. Everything feels deliberately unrefined and natural, evoking the spirit of wabi-sabi — the beauty of imperfection.

The Sanzen-in Gardens

Last but not least the gardens of the famous Sanzen-in temple complex in Ohara. It is more touristic and when we were there, most of the visitors seemed to be Chinese and I did not see Europeans or Americans at all. What does that say – at least it is not that well known to western tourists which is good as too many tourists is always a bad thing.

The beauty of the gardens are difficult to describe, but they are really unique and I will try my best. The whole temple complex feels like a big garden with many trees, streams and waterfalls. There are two main gardens, the Shuheki-en and the Yūsei-en – the Moss Garden of Tranquility. The Shuheki-en is a small pond garden which you watch from inside a guest hall with Tatami mattresses. You sit on the mattress looking through open sliding panels, or on the wooden terrace or on the sills of open window.

Definitely the moss garden is the highlight – you step out of another temple hall on a path lined by towering century old cedar trees filtering the light through the canopy with the whole floor near the paths covered with fluffy moss creating a soft, green glow. It is impossible to capture this beauty in a photo. When you pass it you will go around a corner and there is the next beautiful garden with temple buildings – walking though these gardens feels like in a dream and it definitely is a dream of many photographers.

It was really difficult to decide ok only one photo for the Sanzen-in gardens. If you want to see more let me know and comment below.

Arigato gozaimasu for reading。

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