Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto (travel by LCC & Rent a car)⑭

I was thinking of going to Ryoanji in this trip definitely. It is about a time ago that I did not remember when I went last time. I intended to visit on the second day of sightseeing in Kyoto as originally planned. However, I made a schedule change and made it the last destination of this evening. Since it will be crowded tomorrow on Saturday, I thought that visiting at this timing will be able to appreciate the garden quietly.

From Heian Shrine, there was no traffic jam because it is a straight route to the west direction. Depending on Navi, coming close to the destination, I had an image of the temple in the city in memory, but the other side of the temple is a mountain. In the evening time we arrived, the second parking lot for general cars was vacant.

Park the car, go down the slope and head towards the entrance gate. The garden there is beautiful anymore. It is a green garden. Pay the entrance fee in front of the entrance gate and enter the inside, this time the lotus pond spreads on the left hand. It is a Kyoyochi, this is also beautiful.

When I took off my shoes at the temple office and went up into the temple of the board, I could see the rock garden there. There were about 20 visitors. There is a corridor facing the rock garden, just about 20 people can sit. If this is Saturdays or Sundays, You will not be able to sit.

When standing behind and looking at the garden, the person sitting in the middle of the corridor rim moved out and I was able to sit in that space. More than half of visitors to this temple are foreign tourists. Moreover, the Japanese have a short time to look at the garden, they will leave in 1 or 2 minutes, but some foreign tourists are looking at them for quite a while. Europeans and Americans who say that they like Japanese culture may be more thoughtful.

We intended to stay longer. Initially I thought I would look at an hour for at least 30 minutes. However, as I felt that there would be time before the closing time of Kinkakuji Temple, I ended up in about 3 minutes.

We also took a tour of the garden other than the rock garden to go round the temple hall and return the way that came. While looking at the time quickly, I looked at the scenery of a beautiful garden such as Kyoyochi. Leaving the parking lot, heading for Kinkakuji, the town of Ryoanji is still an ordinary residential area. It seems that the memory of the past was half correct.

Ryoanji Temple is the site which has one of the  most famous rock garden in Japan. It attracts hundreds of visitors every day. The garden consists of a rectangular plot of pebbles surrounded by low earthen walls. There are 15 rocks laid out in small groups on patches of moss.