After you visit the Shitennoji temple and its famous tower, walk north to its turtle pond, pause where the other tourists are watching these creatures sun themselves, but then continue past it and the Abbot’s quarters (honbō) until you come to Gokuraku Jodo-en (the Garden of Paradise) at the extreme northeast of the temple grounds. The entrance fee is definitely worth paying for a stroll through one of the purest of Pure Land gardens in Japan, situated in the headquarters of the Washu sect of Japanese Buddhism. Before we reached the Fudaraku dry garden we were drawn to the vistas of autumn leaves and water in the rest of the garden. It was a day with lots of clouds, but with bright sun whenever there was a gap in them.
Pure Lands are realms occupied by the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. Fudaru is the pure land where Kannon resides, and Gokuraku Jodo is the residence of Amida Buddha. There are resonances here which I find hard to express. On one hand it interesting to see how the landscaping techniques from China were modified when they were adopted in Japan. On the other, I found it interesting to see how the austere Indian philosophy of Buddhism changed as it travelled east through China into Japan.
This is a beautiful garden in autumn, although the word autumn has to be used with some elasticity. Sitting at the warm end of the North Pacific gyre, Japan remains a little warmer than the parts of China at the same latitude. The Kansai plain, the area near Kyoto and Osaka, is warmed by the same Kuroshio current which breeds typhoons in late summer. In this specially warm year the autumn leaves started turning colour in early December. It was a beautiful time for what the Japanese call momijigari, walking under maple leafs. I would also like to visit the garden for hanami, the viewing of cherry blossoms.
Water seems to enter the garden from an artificial waterfall, and is transported through streams into two ponds. The importance of the sound of water is a feature of Japanese gardens. One person sat sketching the waterfall, so I didn’t try to take a photo. The Family looked at the sketch, took a photo of the artist, and paid a compliment. While I waited at a colourful momiji tree for the light to change, The Family walked around and found lovely new views of the two ponds. Above you see two photos, one by each of us, of the Sanzon Seki. This is an arrangement of three stones, the largest of which represent Amida Buddha, and the others two of his attendants.
I found the octagonal pavilion called Hakkaku-tei, and spent a few minutes waiting for the sun to shine on it: I wanted to see the colours of its stained glass. When the clouds refused to move, I took a moody photo and went on. Elsewhere I found a gingko tree shining yellow and gold, even though it stood in the shadow of a cloud. I would have preferred a photo in full sunlight, but again, the banked clouds defeated me.
We climbed at bit and came to the famous dry garden called Fudaraku. The rocks are meant to represent mountains. Note how the shrubs have been trimmed to surround and nestle the rocks. In spring and summer we would have seen the pines at the back with their bunches of leaves look like clouds over the mountains. You can see a bit of a path in the lower left corner of the photo on the left. This is a nobedan, and is unusual because it curves. Dry gardens are best seen in slanting light. The sun was almost overhead, and the photos of raked gravel did not show detail. Perhaps when we come back one spring I will have photos to add.
Don't hold your breath 