【旅画報】龍安寺 – Ryoan-ji Temple【Travel Photographs】
石庭で有名な龍安寺に行ってきました。
Description for foreigners
Ryōan-ji Temple is a Zen temple located in the northwest of Kyoto, Japan. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is known for its famous rock garden. The temple was originally an aristocrat’s villa during the Heian Period and was converted into a Zen temple in 1450. The temple’s name means “The Temple of the Dragon at Peace”.
The temple’s rock garden is one of the most famous in Japan and is considered a masterpiece of Japanese culture. The garden consists of a rectangular plot of pebbles surrounded by low earthen walls, with 15 rocks laid out in small groups on patches of moss. An interesting feature of the garden’s design is that from any vantage point at least one of the rocks is always hidden from the viewer. The garden’s meaning is unclear, but some believe that it represents an abstract concept like infinity .
In addition to the rock garden, Ryōan-ji Temple has other attractions such as the Hojo building, which features some paintings on the sliding doors (fusuma) of its tatami rooms, and a couple of smaller gardens on the rear side of the building. In one of the gardens, there is a round stone trough that cleverly incorporates its square water basin into a Zen inscription.
The temple grounds also include a relatively spacious park area with a pond located below the temple’s main buildings. The pond dates back to the time when the site still served as an aristocrat’s villa and features a small shrine on one of its three little islands that can be accessed over a bridge. Besides some nice walking trails, the park also offers a restaurant which specializes in the Kyoto specialty of Yudofu (boiled tofu). The food is served in attractive tatami rooms that look out onto a traditional Japanese garden.
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Access
龍安寺の所在地 – Location of Ryoan-ji Temple
◆バスの場合
JR・近畿日本鉄道 京都駅から
- 市バス 50番系統 立命館大学前下車 徒歩7分
阪急電鉄 大宮駅から
- 市バス 52・55番系統 立命館大学前下車 徒歩7分
京阪電鉄 三条駅から
- 市バス 59番系統 龍安寺前下車すぐ
◆電車の場合
- 京福電鉄 龍安寺駅下車 徒歩7分
◆車を利用する場合
京都市内や近隣地域からお越しの際には、龍安寺には駐車場が用意されていますので、そちらをご利用いただけます。ただし、京都市内は交通渋滞が発生することが多いため、公共交通機関を利用することをおすすめします。
◆その他の詳細は公式ホームページをご覧ください。
Photographs
以上 – the end