Nanzen-Ji is a vast complex with numerous subtemples, gardens and shrines sprawling
up the hillside, including another pebble garden, hiking trails, waterfalls and a mountain
glen.
Nanzen-ji was bestowed the title of “First Temple of the Land‚” and is considered
by many to be the most famous and important Zen Temple in the world.
It's designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Nanzenin is a smaller sub-temple behind the main Nanzen-ji, and it's one of the oldest
and yet one of the least well-known sub temples, perhaps because it's slightly hidden away.
It started out as a retirement villa for the Emperor Kameyama.
Perhaps the main feature of Nanzenin is the small pond and quiet moss garden surrounded
by Momiji trees and azaleas.
And the pond has several tiny islets including one that shaped like the character for heart.
The pond garden was built in the strolling style representing the late Kamakura period
and retains an image of beautiful scenery surrounded by deep forest with an exceptional
atmosphere of peace and tranquility.
It was designated a national historic and scenic site in 1923.
It's a very small garden that you could walk around in five minutes and exit but it's so
pretty that it's certainly worth stopping and standing and enjoying each of the views
from its own particular angle, which of course is the way these gardens are designed.
They are strolling gardens, so the idea is to walk along with your eyes open and stop
here and there, look this way, look that way, and enjoy all the different views as they
unfold.
Sometimes you'll get lucky and come across a beautiful scene like this that just has
a strong personal attraction for some reason -- you just can't take your eyes off it, you
can't leave it, you just have to stop and look, and walk one way, walk around the other
way, come back again and just drop everything and enjoy this vista.
The rocks, of course, are not carved rocks.
They are natural rocks but they are carefully placed into each spot so that it looks natural
and yet it's been shaped and cultivated in an ideal way.
The temple was first established in the year 1291 by the Emperor Kameyama who built it
on the site of his previous palace.
It's also the headquarters of the Nanzen-ji branch of Rinzai Zen.
[chanting in Japanese] Typical of the old wooden temple buildings, it was destroyed
by fire several times and finally rebuilt in 1597 and then expanded over time with the
addition of more gardens and sub temples.
And then we walked out on the main grounds of the temple of Nanzen and came across what
looked like something from ancient Rome - a large aqueduct.
The canal called “Sosui‚” is a channel that brings water from Lake Biwa passing the
Nanzen-ji temple and right on into Kyoto City.
The construction of the canal was pretty recent, it was begun in 1881 and finished in 1890,
and was primarily to bring water to the city, and also it added some hydroelectric power,
and provided irrigation water and turned waterwheels for spinning cotton.
Of course there's no connection to Rome this is a Japanese aqueduct.
They were experts at irrigation of the rice terraces and funneling water from one area
to another and even though this aqueduct is not ancient it has a historic character with
the brick construction and graceful arches that makes it blend in beautifully with the
temple grounds.
The temple complex reached its maximum size in the period between 1616 and 1868 when it
grew to contain 62 sub-temples spread over nearly 400,000 square meters of garden area,
but this ended during the Meiji period after 1868 when Shintoism began to replace Buddhism
as the dominant belief of Japan.
By then the temple was partly demolished leaving only the nine sub-temples that we have today.
The tallest structure is the Sanmon Gate, which is a gateless gate, typical of the Zen,
and you can climb a staircase up to the top for a view.
The building called Kuri has a geometrical beauty produced by white walls and black building
materials, and the lines of the roof so characteristic of the Zen style of architecture.
When you get to Kyoto be sure to visit Nanzen-ji temple and while you're there look around
behind the aqueduct for the little pond, the gardens of Nanzenin.
Go ahead and spend the extra yen to get in there, it's definitely worth it, one of the
prettiest little pond you'll ever see.
From Nanzen-ji we’re heading over to Maruyama Park, the main public garden of Kyoto.
We have arrived at Maruyama Park, which has an enchanting pond encircled by beautiful
landscaping with a picturesque foot-bridge in the center.
There’s no need to walk up the gully, but do consider having a meal at the traditional
restaurant in the small park, serving shojin ryori vegetarian temple cuisine.
We will show you their famous potatoes shortly.
Maruyama is a wonderful and famous place to do some relaxing.
And there are some ducks, there are crows - some locals feeding the ducks here.
These wild birds have become so used to people that they are very friendly, even the ravens
which are normally quite elusive.
You can easily walk into Maruyama Park from a couple of nearby famous temples of Yasaka
and Kiyomizu.
Chion-in is on the north edge of the park.
So this is really one of the most popular strolls in all of Kyoto.
We're in the eastern part of Kyoto, the Higashiyama district.
a little stroll along the stream here.
The park is most famous for its cherry blossoms in the month of April, which attract millions
of people.
This is a classic walk and it leads you into another path with a bridge crossing over the
pond, and the path can continue up along the stream if you wish for another quarter-mile.
It's a very easy stroll with these beautiful weeping willow trees.
More of the spectacular colors all along the way.
And there's some nice restaurants here as well, too.
In a moment we're going to take you into one of the classic restaurants of Maruyama.
There are some statues and small shrines scattered throughout the park.
You can find half a dozen traditional hotels, the ryokan, all around the periphery of the
park as well, very peaceful places to stay.
There's one quite famous gourmet restaurant with three Michelin stars, Mizai, and that
same three star rating was given to five other Kyoto restaurants, and altogether 85 of the
restaurants in Kyoto have got one, two or three Michelin stars, a total of 110 stars
- remarkable.
And now we're entering venerable old restaurant, Hiranoya Honten.
It was established 300 years ago.
This is considered a temple restaurant where they feature the famous shojin ryori vegetarian
temple cuisine, and they have the "Imobo" cuisine which is one of the renowned dishes
of Kyoto.
One their specialty items here is the potato, it's a mountain potato that was brought down
and replanted at the Maruyama Hill area.
And you can see I was very satisfied with the large and delicious meal.
When you've seen enough of the park you might walk a few blocks over to the traditional
Gion district which we’re showing you in another movie in our series on Kyoto.
We’re now walking to the north end of the park to visit another beautiful temple with
its gardens.
Chion-in is the main temple of the Jodo sect of Japanese Buddhism which has millions of
followers throughout the country and 7000 other temples but Chion-in is the main temple
where this branch of Buddhism was created by Honen way back in the 12th century.
The main entrance Sanmon Gate is the largest wooden gate in Japan, 24 meters tall or 79
feet, and dates back to the early 1600s.
The vast temple grounds include 106 buildings and several beautiful gardens we will take
you walking through.
We were fortunate to be able to enter the Miedo, the main building of the temple complex
which is now closed for renovation until early 2019.
Inside, a regular service was taking place with the Shomyo, which is the melodic chanting
of a Sutra.
We'll show you more of that at the end of the video.
[chanting] There is no charge for walking around in the
temple grounds but if you want to enter the gardens you do pay a small fee -- you can
pay separately for one or for both gardens.
The two gardens that you find at Chion-in are smaller than what you'll find that many
of the other temples of Kyoto but the gardens are quite lovely and we're going to walk you
through them.
The Hojo garden is designated by Kyoto city as a famous scenic spot.
It's a garden designed around the pond.
We're enjoying it with the remains of the autumn foliage of early December -- you can
also come in the spring and see the cherry blossoms or you'll experience the fresh greenery
in the summertime.
It's a very small garden that you could walk around in five minutes and exit but it's so
pretty that it's certainly worth stopping and standing and enjoying each of the views
from its own particular angle, which of course is the way these gardens are designed.
They are strolling gardens, so the idea is to walk along with your eyes open and stop
here and there, look this way, look that way, and enjoy all the different views as they
unfold.
As you stroll quietly along on these curved paths the landscape and scenery in the garden
is revealed to you at each turn, at each curve, and then that same site disappears as you
continue walking -- the reveal, the surprise, linger a moment for appreciation and contemplation,
look around and then move beyond.
It's all part of this magical experience of the strolling garden, much different than
a garden where you're just standing in one spot at a Lookout point, perhaps looking out
at a view.
The strolling garden is a totally immersive experience.
The cemetery on the edge of the gardens is densely packed with burials of ashes of the
faithful.
The central premise of the Jodo sect was that the Buddhist deity Amida had created a paradise
that anyone could enter after death.
One needed only to recite the name of Amida in faith.
Jodo literally means “pure land‚” and refers to Amida’s paradise, and this new
sect of Buddhism gave common people the same opportunity for salvation as priests or aristocrats,
and that's why it became very popular among the masses.
And a couple of monks head on in for some quiet meditation.
This garden has a rich variety of features ranging from the cemetery, to smaller temple
buildings, staircases -- be careful now, you don't want to be looking at your camera while
you're walking down steps like that.
We will be leaving the temple soon but first appreciating more of the shrines.
One of Japan’s most breathtaking statues is next door in a wooden subtemple -- a serene,
golden Buddha ten feet high, designed for prayer and meditation, one of the prettiest
Buddha statues we've ever seen.
This is part of our series on the temples and gardens of Eastern Kyoto, the Higashiyama
district.
Be sure to look for them on our YouTube channel.
For the final minute will leave you with the chanting monks inside the main hall of Chion-in.