Ryōan-ji Rock Garden, Kyoto, Japan
Ryoan-ji was built on the grounds of a villa of the Fujiwara clan in the Heian period. The deputy of the shogun and warlord Hosokawa Katsumoto bought the estate in 1450 and built his residence on it, together with the temple Ryōan-ji. It was destroyed in the Onin war, but rebuilt in 1488 by Katsumoto’s son Matsumoto. It is probable that the garden of the temple was also created at that time, but some scholars argue that it was built earlier by Katsumoto or later, for example, by Zen monk and garden designer Sōami, who also built the dry landscape garden of Daisen-in.
The temple burnt down in 1797, and the garden was recreated later. As a print of the year 1799 shows, the garden today hasn’t changed since that time.
Epic Japan Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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