Kare Sansui

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Dragon Art Gallery

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Temple Garden with Sand and Stones
Kare Sansui 枯山水（かれさんすい）

The garden at the temple Tofuku-Ji (Toofukuji 東福寺) was created by the famous master gardener Shigemori Mirei.

The stones are layed out to expresses a dragon, curled in a spiral, with his horns and a few parts of its back visible in the sand. The dragon is invisible in the clouds, but as you walk along, you can almost see it moving in the stormy sky.


©　nekonoana


東福寺龍吟庵（とうふくじ りょうぎんあん）

重森三玲



Click on the THUMBNAIL to see more !

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The Hojo, which is one of main building in the Tofukuji Temple founded in 1235, was reconstructed in 1890, and the gardens arranged at the four quarters around the building of Hojo were laid out in 1939 by Mr. Mirei Shigemori (a famous garden-builder), who intended to express the simplicity of Zen in the Kamakura period with the abstract construction of modern arts.

Check this page of the temple for more photos:
© Tofukuji Temple

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Tofukuji Temple (東福寺), located in the south eastern region of Kyoto City, is one of the most famous places in all of Japan for autumn maple leaf viewing (momijigari 紅葉狩り).
The Tofukuji Temple grounds, which include many inspiring Japanese gardens as well as the renowned Seven Temples of the Tofukuji School of Zen Buddhism (1273) among other temples, offer the visitor a visual spectacle beyond the typical momijigari experience.
In the height of the maple leaf viewing season (mid-late November), Tofukuji station and the main road leading to Tofukuji Temple is overflowing with people eager to observe the picturesque display of autumn color.

Five minutes walk east of Tobakaido station takes you to Komyoin Temple (光明院), a small sub-temple bordering the Tofukuji Temple grounds. Here you will come across what is without doubt my favorite Japanese garden in the entire Tokfukuji Temple grounds. Sandy beaches have been incorporated into the traditional dry wave rock garden design that dates back to the Heian period (794-1185) known as Hashin-tei (波心庭).

Thin tranquil waves of stone spread out covering the entire garden body like diffuse streams of light. A tall maple tree stands nearby at ease, providing a calming magnanimous atmosphere. The garden was completed during the Showa Period (1926-1989), before the beginning of the Second World War by SHIGEMORI Mirei. SHIGEMORI was a well known traditional and modern garden designer, and he named this particular garden after the great artist Francois Millet.

©　N. Suematsu

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NHK ：Bi no Tsubo 美の壷

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Karesansui 枯山水 (dry landscape gardens, also known as rock gardens and waterless stream gardens) are typically associated with Zen Buddhism, and often found in the front or rear gardens at the residences (houjou 方丈) of Zen abbots. The main elements of karesansui are rocks and sand, with the sea symbolized not by water but by sand raked in patterns that suggest rippling water. Representative examples are the gardens of Ryoanji Temple and Daitokuji Temple, both in Kyoto. Plants are much less important (and sometimes nonexistent) in many karesansui gardens.

Karesansui gardens are often, but not always, meant to be viewed from a single, seated perspective, and the rocks are often associated with and named after various Chinese mountains. The first-ever Zen landscape garden in Japan is credited to Kenchoji Temple in Kamakura. Founded in 1251, this temple was the chief monastery for the five great Zen monasteries that thrived during the Kamakura era (1185-1333). It became the center of Zen Buddhism thanks to strong state patronage.

© Japanese Gardens
Mark Schumacher

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Mirei Shigemori (1896–1975), a landscape architect and scholar trained in painting, flower arranging, and tea ceremony, is increasingly admired for his contemporary Japanese garden designs. Believing that the Japanese dry landscape garden (or Zen garden) had fallen into cliché, Shigemori applied modernist shapes, colors, and materials to create stunning avant-garde works that also celebrated the ancient gods and beliefs at the heart of Japanese culture.
http://www.stonebridge.com/SHIGEMORI/shigemori.html

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summer in the temple -
the horns of the dragon
just visible



Zen Garden Master Shunmyo Masuno　禅庭氏　増野さん

Daruma Pilgrims in Japan: Kobori Enshuu-

Stone Garden and Haiku

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