Neil Duckett

On the back of last weeks Photo Hunt i had a few emails and a request for more info from Tokyo Expat on where exactly the Temple was i had taken the photo and if i had any others of the surrounding area.

The temple was the Tenryu-ji Temple 天竜寺, nestled on a slope of the Arashiyama district of Kyoto, Tenryu-ji (”heavenly dragon temple”) is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list and is the head temple of the Tenryu-ji branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism.

Unfortunately the day i visited Kyoto the weather turned bad shortly after lunch so i literally had 3 or 4 hrs in the morning to take in some sights. After a walk through the temple grounds there was a nature walk through the bamboo and into the foot hills.

Like other Rinzai Zen temples in Kyoto (Nanzenji, Tofukuji, Ryoanji…) it is noted for its Zen gardens and extensive white buildings.

The temple was founded in 1339 by Shogun Ashikaga Takauji in memory of emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339), with whom he sided during the civil war which brought to an end the Kamakura Shogunate (1185-1333).

Tenryu-ji was actually a former villa of emperor Go-Daigo himself. The site had earlier been occupied by the Danrin-ji temple since the 9th century, the first Zen temple in Japan. Emperor Kameyama (1249-1305) built a villa on the propoerty, where his grandson Go-Daigo was raised and educated.

Following Go-Daigo’s passing, a Buddhist priest dreamt of a dragon rising from the nearby river and interpreted it as the uneasy spirit of the defunct emperor. As a result, Ashikaga Takauji ordered to built a temple to appease Go-Daigo’s spirit.

Tenryu-ji was ravaged by fires no less than eight times, last in 1864. Although the present building only date from 1900, the 14th century landscape garden is one of the oldest in Japan.

Source: Japan Reference

And some other random photos taken close by to the main temple.

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