Shoden-ji is a quiet Rinzai Zen temple hidden in Kyoto's northern suburbs, famed for a blood-stained ceiling and a rock garden that enchanted David Bowie. Founded in 1282, the temple's main hall was ...

Kita-no-Mandokoro, wife of the lord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–98), ordered the construction of Kōdaiji in 1606 to pray for her husband’s departed soul. The temple’s formal title is Kōdaijushōzenji—said ...

The gardens of Japan have fascinated ever since the 1854 Treaty of Kamagawa opened the country to the West and they first came to the attention of the garden-making cognoscenti. Imitations are now ...

The gardens of Japan have graced both landscape and life for over a thousand years. Regarded as works of art, they lend insight into the nation’s history and culture. In Japanese Garden Design, ...

The Saga/Arashiyama area in the western reaches of central Kyoto is one of Japan’s most scenic areas. In spring, 1,500 cherries bloom on 382-meter tall Arashiyama, and vibrant red and yellow foliage ...

Kyoto's most famous Zen garden is Ryoan-ji. Its raked gravel and 15 carefully placed stones make it the world's most recognisable garden image. I love Ryoan-ji, which, despite the hoards of visitors ...

It was a chilly autumn morning in Kyoto’s Komyo-in Temple. Facing a serene rock garden, a group of art collectors and curators were in the midst of a group zazen – a Zen Buddhist meditation session.

From the Hello Kitty Haruka Express to Heian Jingu Shrine, Gemma Fullam explores one of Japan's most fascinating cities Kinkakuji's paradise gardens, which include a flying crane lake and a tortoise ...

A new study has found that a delicate moss, which gives temple grounds their distinctive air of mellow tranquillity, is in rapid decline because of warmer weather and changing rainfall. The research, ...

Frustrated by your attempts to create a Zen garden? Can't get the placement of the rocks to agree with the sweep of the gravel? Science now has the answer: simply lay the rocks out so that the points ...