travel - asia - japan - kyoto - ryoan-ji temple - d holmes chamberlin jr architect llc

travel asia japan kyoto ryoan-ji temple

The Ryoan-ji Temple in northwest Kyoto is a Zen temple belonging to the Moshin-ji school of the Rinzai branch of Zen Buddhism.
It is known for having one of the finest examples of kare-sansui ("dry landscape") gardens featuring distinctive larger rock formations amidst a raked "sea" of smooth pebbles.
The grounds and the buildings are nicely maintained and probably acurately reflect the essence of a historic Zen temple, but lack much of the livelyness and color of other Shinto and Buddhist temples visited.
All of the elements are well done, but we left feeling we had visited a museum rather than a living temple.

LINK TO WIKIPEDIA'S WEB PAGE ON THE RYOANJI TEMPLE

TRAVEL: January 2020

This location has earned an over-all three-and-a-half star (good+) rating from
Travel Fanatics Unlimited
***1/2

unless noted otherwise all images copyright d. holmes chamberlin jr architect llc

world travel
asia
japan
kyoto
ryoan-ji temple

around the temple grounds

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world travel
asia
japan
kyoto
ryoan-ji temple

temple architecture

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world travel
asia
japan
kyoto
ryoan-ji temple

map

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page last revised march 2020