Page 181 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

K Y O T O CIT Y  179

g Ninna-ji Temple Nakane Kinsaku (1917–95).
Ninnaji Temple Taizo-in’s prize possession is one
of the most famous examples
Tel (075) 461-1155. £ Omuro-Nina-ji of Zen ink painting, Josetsu’s
stn, Keifuku Kitano line. @ 10, 26, 59 Catching a Catfish with a Gourd
to Omuro Ninna-ji. Treasure House:
Open 9am–5pm daily (Dec–Feb: to (1413). A copy is on display.
4:30pm). & Daishin-in has three gar dens.
Subtemples Reiun-in,
Ninna-ji’s colossal front gate, nicknamed the Motonobu
with formidable Nio (Deva King) Temple because of its many
guardians, serves as a reminder Kano Motonobu works, and
that this Shingon-sect temple Tenkyu-in, noted for paintings
used to be, until fires reduced by Kano Sanraku, are open on
it to its present size, a huge special days in spring and fall.
complex number ing up to Ajiro, a restaurant specializing
60 subtemples. in shojin ryori (Zen vegetarian
Completed by Emperor Uda cuisine) is near the temple’s
in 888, Ninna-ji was formerly south gate.
known as the Omuro Palace.
Until the Meiji Restoration
(1868), it was always headed by j Koryu-ji Temple
an imperial prince. The Kondo Koryuji Temple
(main hall) and its wooden
Amida image are National Tel (075) 861-1461. £ Uzumasa-
Treasures. Other sights include Koryuji stn, Keifuku Arashiyama line.
@ 11, 61, 62, 63, 71, 72, 73 to Ukyoku-
a soaring five-story pagoda and Sogochosha-mae. Open 9am–5pm
a stand of dwarf cherry trees – Ninna-ji’s soaring five-story pagoda, dating daily (Dec–Feb: to 4:30pm). &
the last of Kyoto’s many sakura from the 1630s
(cherry trees) to bloom. A must-see for lovers of Buddhist
Situated in the southwest of com plex of Myoshin-ji boasts art, Koryu-ji was founded in 603,
the precincts is the Omuro some 47 subtemples rich in by a clan of Korean immigrants
Gosho, a compound with a Kano School paintings and other who con tributed greatly to the
lovely Edo-period garden. On art objects. The main structures, develop ment of Kyoto. Among
the mountain behind aligned in a row in typically Zen the impressive images in its
is the Omuro fashion (see p141), include the Reihoden (treasure hall), is a
88-Temple Hatto (lecture hall), famous for Miroku Bosatsu (Buddha of the
Pilgrimage, which a huge dragon painted by Kano future) believed to have been
reproduces in Tanyu on its ceiling, and its bell, brought to Japan from Korea
miniature the the oldest in Japan. in the 7th century. Kyoto’s
temples on Subtemples normally open oldest image, the seat ed
Shikoku’s to the public include Keishun- figure is known throughout
88-Temple in, noted for its four gardens the nation for its beatific Mona
Pilgrimage (see and famous tea arbor, Taizo-in, Lisa-like smile. The temple’s
pp232–3). It which has both a dry garden by oldest structure, the Kodo,
takes about Kano Motonobu (1476–1559) houses a 9th-century statue
Nio guardian 2 hours to and a modern garden by of the Amida Buddha.
figure at the gate complete the
of Ninna-ji full circuit.
h Myoshin-ji
Temple
Myoshinji Temple
Tel (075) 463-3121. £ Myoshin-ji stn,
Keifuku Kitano line; Hanazono stn, JR
Sagano line. @ 26 to Myoshin-ji
Kitamon-mae. Open 9:10am–3:40pm
daily. &
Founded at the behest of retired
Emperor Hanazono in 1337,
destroyed during the Onin War,
and rebuilt on a grand scale, the
spacious Rinzai-sect Zen temple Garden of subtemple Taizo-in, at the Myoshin-ji complex

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