It’s the last day of July, and all I could think of was “Thank goodness July is over, but DANG AUGUST CAME TOO SOON”. I guess that’s the thing about time: it passes, and it does so in an unforgiving fashion. There are no rewinds, no take twos, just pushing forward, and all we can do is to keep pace with it. Or, at least, try to. And while doing so, make memories. Good ones. Lots of them. So you will have lots of them to look back to even months, years to the future.
July was a bit toxic for me. I guess it comes with the territory when it’s the beginning of the Budgeting period at work, and it also coincides with all that transition stuff. For a moment there it got a bit crazy, so it was with wide open arms that I grabbed onto that one-day hike a couple of days back.
Needless to say, I am still recovering from the exertion, and still feeling a bit sore, but you know what? WORTH IT. I’m still going through the photos to include in a future blog post, so…YAY…?
But for now, let’s get back to regular programming on my Japan sojourn months back. Still on my Arashiyama run, and on my last post about Nonomiya Shrine, I made a brief mention about Tenryu-ji Temple. (For your reference, visit the official webpage of Tenryu-ji.)
From the main road of the central throroughfare of Arashiyama, you will spot one of the several gates of Tenryu-ji Temple, the North Gate. But we didn’t enter through there, opting to instead follow the Path of the Bamboo first.
After leaving the Path of the Bamboo, we immediately came upon the Garden Entrance.
FYI, there are three entrances where you can purchase your admission ticket to Tenryu-ji Temple: the North Gate, the garden entrance (which we took), and the Main Building entrance (where we made our exit).
We opted to get the admission ticket to just the Garden and not any of the buildings, because (1) we weren’t planning to enter every building within the complex, after knowing some of them may be closed; and (2) we weren’t going to linger for more than an hour anyway, since there are other places in Arashiyama we wanted to check out.
Besides, the Dharma Hall is not open when we were there, because it only opens on weekends and holidays, and other designated special seasons.
Tenryu-ji Temple is definitely considered to be one of the crowns of the Saga Arashiyama area. It’s certainly the most important temple in the district, and is currently the main or head temple of the Rinzai Zen sect of Buddhism in Japan. Currently, there are five major Zen temples in Kyoto, known as “Kyoto’s Five Mountains”; Tenryu-ji is the first mountain, and remains at the top of the rank to this day.
Seeing as it is one of the major temples of Japanese Buddhism, it is obviously dedicated to the veneration of Shaka Nyorai (yet another of the many monikers of Siddharta Gautama, or Buddha).
Tenryu-ji was founded by Ashikaga Takauji in 1339, during his reign as shogun. As I have already come to expect from historical structures like these, numerous fires have damaged the temple since its establishment, which means constant rebuilding also took place every time a fire ravaged it.
Compared to when it was first established, today’s Tenryu-ji occupies a smaller land area, after the Meiji government confiscated much of the area around it, leaving only around a tenth of the original area it once occupied.
So basically, all the buildings in the complex are restorations, and not the actual original structures from the 1300s to the 1500s.
To make it simple for visitors, once you enter and go past the gates, there are several sightseeing courses you can follow. One was notable for leading you up the hill, resulting to quite a winding hike through the foot of the mountain.
Or you can take the route leading you into the middle of the complex, where the temple buildings are.
I gotta say that Tenryu-ji certainly lives up to its name of being a Zen temple. Immediately you’d be welcomed by a feeling of serenity in the Hyakka’en, or the Garden of a Hundred Flowers.
Basically, Hyakka’en is a garden filled with flowering trees, herbs, and bushes. Elements of a Zen garden can be seen here, from the well-manicured lawns to the pebbled paths and the trees, which had labels of scientific names on them.
There are benches carved out of boulders and made out of wood, strategically placed in spots around the garden, where you can sit down to rest your legs and just smell the clean, crisp mountain air.
There are quite a number of significant buildings in the temple complex. Straight after walking off the Hyakka’en, you will come upon the Tahoden, of the “Hall of Many Treasures”. It is characterized by one long, covered corridor, whose other end can lead you up to the teahouses on the slopes of the nearby mountain.
The Tahoden essentially served as the residence of the emperor, built according to the specifications of a royal residence or home of an aristocratic family during the middle ages.
You have to pay extra to walk through the corridors and enter the Tahoden, by the way. Then you can step on the tatami floor, lie down, or just relax while looking out the wide open doors/windows.
Now this is the Daihojo, or the Main Hall of Tenryuji. At the back, connected to it is the Kohojo, or the Abbot’s Quarters.
Quick lesson: daihojo translates to large or big hall, while kohojo is small or little hall.
Needless to say, Daihojo is the largest building in the temple complex, and it is where ceremonial functions and large events were conducted in the past.
Inside the Hall is enshrined an image of Buddha, considered to be the most ancient of all Buddha images in the temple, even older than Tenryu-ji itself.
The highlight for me, personally (and clearly among other tourists) was the back veranda, which directly faces the Sogen Pond.
There are long benches on the veranda, and below it (for those who opted not to pay extra to step inside the Main Hall) where visitors can be seated to appreciate the view of Sogen Pond.
You can feast your eyes on the spread before you, of the lush Sogenchi Teien or Sogen Pond Garden. So it’s not just a pond, but a pond garden, meticulously arranged and maintained, clearly, if the pebbles are any slight indication of the care and maintenance that go into this particular spot of the temple.
Interestingly, I learned about the concept of shakkei, or “borrowed scenery”, after reading up on Sogen Pond Garden. It means that the pond garden uses the nearby mountains as a backdrop to get more depth. Simply put, the pond garden is borrowing the scenery of the mountains to highlight its own charms.
You can say that Sogenchi Teien is your quintessential Zen pond garden, because its history goes waaaaay back, when it was first laid out more than 700 years ago by a Zen master named Muso Soseki. It is said that the appearance of Sogen Pond Garden today is the same as the one laid out all those centuries ago.
To add more prestige to the Sogenchi Teien, it also has the distinction of being the first spot or place in the whole of Japan to be designated by the government as a “Site of Special Historic and Scenic Importance”.
I’m guessing that, if they applied South Korea’s policy of putting numbers on their national treasures, Sogenchi Teien would be the Site of Special Historic and Scenic Importance #1.
Supposedly, those large standing rocks arranged on the pond represent the Dragon Gate Falls. Chinese legend has it that any carp that can scale the Dragon Gate Falls in the Yellow River in China, will turn or transform into a majestic dragon.
In Zen-speak, transforming into a dragon represents enlightenment.
After sitting a while in front of the veranda of the Daihojo, watching the serene pond, we got up and made a quick circuit of the grounds close to the Main Hall. We didn’t stray too far, though, and chose to go back up, following the sightseeing course leading up the short trail to the slope.
Nothing like a good walking trail to get your blood running and your heart pumping. Nothing too crazy or challenging, just a leisurely walk in the woods.
Places like these remind me how much I prefer being amid greens, despite having grown accustomed to the comforts of the urban jungle. There’s a different high to be had when you’re in places like these. Call it calm, call it zen. It’s just the type of peace and serenity you can’t find in a city bustling with activity and often mindless routine.
I totally understand why even locals would give up a weekend to travel all the way here and get as much of that Zen that they can get from Tenryuji’s gardens.
A visit to Arashiyama is definitely not going to be complete without a visit to Tenryu-ji. I know I also said that about the Path of Bamboo, but you’ll get what I mean once you enter this Zen temple. It’s just… comforting. After leaving this place, my earlier exhaustion from walking from the train station to the Path of Bamboo (and the Mt. Fuji climb a couple of days before, and an overnight bus trip from Kawaguchiko to Kyoto) just… VANISHED.
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