Ryoan ji temple 龍安寺

The second temple with a beautiful garden that we have visited on a cold cloudy day in January! 

Buit in around 1450s, Ryoan ji is a zen temple with a world-heritage stone-sand garden and a big pond that you can go around.  It is famous for autumn foliage, but it is still quiet and beautiful in other seasons. The stone-sand garden is said to have 15 stones, expressing the ocean, mountains, and clouds. (We could find only 14 stones, but anyway...)  It is a small temple sitting on a large piece of land. It is relaxing to walk around the pond, see some ducks in it and view the plants and the mountains in the background.  It is so nice to spend an afternoon like this.  There were dragon paintings on screen doors for public viewing for a limited time.  Perfect for the start of the year of dragon.  I'm lucky to live near a lot of beautiful temples and shrines like this in this city.

お庭ツアー第二弾、龍安寺に行きました。枯山水の庭が有名な禅寺。世界遺産となっているそうな。枯山水の庭には15個の石を配しているらしいけれど、14個しか見つけられなかった…。？？　公開している建物の部分はわりとこぢんまりしているけれど、池が大きくて綺麗。池を一周して、植物や鴨、アヒル？などを愛でるのはとても贅沢な時間。今年の干支、龍の襖絵も、期間限定で公開していました！