The Tranquil Zen Garden of Kyoto
With Zen rocks strategically placed in carefully raked white sand, the Ryoan-ji garden evokes peace and beauty
- By Karen Larkins
- Smithsonian magazine, January 2008, Subscribe
Zen rock gardens, or karesansui (translated as "dry-mountain-water"), originated in medieval Japan and are renowned for their simplicity and serenity. The most famous of these can be found in Kyoto at the 15th-century Ryoan-ji, the Temple of the Peaceful Dragon. "While there are other similar gardens of great beauty," says James Ulak, curator of Japanese art at Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler galleries, "Ryoan-ji remains the ur-site of the type—powerful, abstract, Zen Buddhist landscapes designed to invoke deep meditation."
Measuring 98 by 32 feet, the Ryoan-ji garden is about the size of a tennis court and is composed solely of 15 large and small rocks, some encircled by moss, grouped in five clusters on a bed of carefully raked white sand. From a distance, the rocks resemble islands, the sand a tranquil sea.
In 2002, a research team at Kyoto University claimed to have cracked the Zen code. Relying on computer models, they found that the garden's rocks—when viewed from the proper angle—subconsciously evoke the tranquil outline of a branching tree. Over the centuries, however, visitors have discerned images as diverse as a tigress escorting her cubs across water and the Chinese character for "heart" or "mind." Since the anonymous designer left no explanation, the garden's exact meaning remains a mystery, which no doubt contributes to its enduring allure.
What will you see?
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Comments (6)
i see a man and woman who were forbidden to be together that ran away to love each other one last time before he went back to become ruler of his father's kingdom.
Posted by Avalon Van Slykr on February 11,2012 | 04:30 PM
I see a frog and his eye and foot at the left side of the black rock.
Have a small zen garden and enjoy it.
Posted by Glenda on August 24,2011 | 08:42 PM
i would love to goo too Japan bcuz i love the sight seeing on the river that goes through japan.. i just love it.. when i grow old me and my family are going to move too japan
Posted by kayla on September 30,2010 | 01:55 PM
Ryoan-ji might be the epitome of Japanese Zen gardens, but it is now so overrun with tourists of all kinds that its meaning and its value for meditation is totally lost. Kyoto contains many other Zen gardens where one can be completely within the garden and oneself. Get off the "tourist circuit" and find your own. A suggestion to Ryoan-ji -- limit the numbers, especially of the school groups (Japanese and foreign) to those who are truly interested. Those who just want to check it off of their "life list" should go elsewhere.
Posted by Terry Reagan on October 8,2009 | 08:26 PM
unless there are laws prohibiting a full and complete picture of the garden i see no reason why you did not show the entire garden. 99% percent of us readers will never get a chance to see it.[ poor job ]
Posted by joe kudrich on January 15,2008 | 08:03 PM
I am fortunate to have been there years ago, and it is a truly awe inspiring place. Words and pictures do not begin to adequately describe it. Well worth a trip. But then most of Japan is!
Posted by Beth Wicker on December 29,2007 | 08:45 PM