Top > Gardens Overview > Secret Gardens > Kamakura Area > Hasedera Hasedera（長谷寺） A mystical kannon statue, hydrangea at full bloom, a modern dry landscape garden. This is the Hasedera temple in Kamakura, the probably second oldest temple in the city, also simply known as Hase kannon. It is the...Continue Reading
Top > Gardens Overview > Secret Gardens > Kamakura Area > Engaku-ji Engaku-ji（円覚寺） Meet the charismatic regent Hōjō Tokimune and Zen master Mugaku Sogen and eavesdrop on their Zen conversations. Mongol invasions, Buddha’s tooth, and a forgotten Sutra roll – the founding story of Engaku-ji temple gives you a direct...Continue Reading
Top > Gardens Overview > Famous Gardens > Kamakura Area > Zuisen-ji (Flower Temple) Zuisen-ji (Flower Temple)（瑞泉寺 （花寺）） Zuisen-ji is a small temple hidden away in the eastern mountains of Kamakura. The temple’s nickname is ‘flower temple’ and its flower garden in the front of the temple is the most beautiful...Continue Reading
Top > Gardens Overview > Famous Gardens > Other Regions > Shōmyō-ji Shōmyō-ji（称名寺） The Shōmyō-ji is a Buddhist temple of the Shingon school of Buddhism in Yokohama, Kanagawa-Ken. It was founded in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) as a family temple of the Hojo clan, the powerholders of the Kamakura period....Continue Reading
Top > Gardens Overview > Famous Gardens > Kamakura Area > Meigetsu-in Meigetsu-in（明月院） Every year in June, after the rain season has begun, and the air gets hot and damp, thousands of visitors from Tokyo and Kamakura surge to the Meigetsu-in temple in Kita-Kamakura. This is the time, when the...Continue Reading
Top > Gardens Overview > Famous Gardens > Kamakura Area > Hōkoku-ji Hōkoku-ji（報国寺） Hōkoku-ji is a small Zen temple in Kamakura, world-famous for its bamboo grove of more than 2000 Mōsō bamboos. It is also called Take-dera (Bamboo temple) for that reason. The temple was founded in 1334, a time...Continue Reading
Top > Gardens Overview > Famous Gardens > Other Regions > Erin-ji Erin-ji（恵林寺） Erin-ji is a quiet Zen temple surrounded by the Yamanashi mountains. It was built in 1330, when Nikaidō Sadafuji the military governor of the Kai-no-kuni administration asked the Zen priest and garden designer Musō Soseki (夢窓 疎石),...Continue Reading
Top > Gardens Overview > Famous Gardens > Kamakura Area > Kenchō-ji Kenchō-ji（建長寺） Kenchō-ji is the oldest Zen training monastery in Japan and holds the highest rank in the Kamakura Five-Mountain system (五山). It was built in the Kamakura period (1192-1337), the construction was finished in 1273. The layout of...Continue Reading
Today I would like to talk about the Ryūmonbaku style waterfalls. Do you know these falls where a stone represents a carp jumping up a fall to become a dragon? The tale goes, that only a strong carp can manage to swim up a river with strong current and pass...Continue Reading
I hoped for some blog posts between the new eBook announcements, however, work kept me busy and I was not able to finish the two posts I already started.. That’s why, again, you can read about Real Japanese Gardens new eBook. But I think that’s not so bad either! Because...Continue Reading
