





[A Stroll in Nanzenji Temple After the Rain]
The other day, at dusk after the rain, I took a stroll to Nanzenji Temple. Nanzenji Temple is the head temple of the Nanzenji school of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, founded in 1291 by Cloistered Emperor Kameyama with Zen master Mukanfumon as its founder. In 1386, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu granted Nanzenji the status of "五山之上," and the temple prospered as the most prestigious temple in the Zen world.
I love to sit at the temple's three gates at dusk, when there are few people around, and listen carefully to the sounds of nature. I can hear the wind, the water, the white-eye, the tits, the blue rock thrush, and all kinds of birds. This Sanmon gate is designated as an important cultural property, and you can climb up during the day. It is thrilling to climb up the steep stairs, which are smooth and smooth after hundreds of years of people going up and down, but it is a nice view of the city of Kyoto.
Entering the back of the temple grounds from the Sanmon gate, you will find the brick Suijikaku (waterway pavilion), built in 1888 to draw water from Lake Biwa and still in service today. As the designer Tanabe Sakuro intended, it has become old-fashioned and blends in with the landscape. Its romantic appearance has many fans, and it has become one of the unique attractions of Nanzenji, to the extent that some people visit the temple for the aqueduct. On this particular day, there was a metallic silver spider the size of a grain of rice near the aqueduct, glistening in the setting sun.
There are narrow waterways both inside and outside the temple grounds, and when I peeked in, I saw that there were freshwater crabs here and there eating. They are small crabs, but some quickly hid in their holes when I reached out to them, some bravely raised their scissors and came at me, and some gently came close and played with me. Some would hide in their holes when you reached out to them, and others would come at you with scissors raised in the air. The waterway is clear and clean, and if you are lucky, some small fish will pass by. I have never been able to get a good look at what kind of fish they are, as they swim by so fast that they seem to fly away.
It is often said that Kyoto is close to both the city and nature, and, if you look hard enough, you can see all kinds of creatures. When people talk about Kyoto as a city of 1,000 years, they tend to focus only on the history of human beings, but I sometimes wonder if the true history of Kyoto lies in the blending of the signs of culture and lifestyle that human beings have nurtured over a long period and the signs of nature that has nurtured them.
When you come to Kyoto, I recommend that you take a walk near nature. You may find something different and fascinating.
Nanzenji Temple
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Showroom Information
https://www.shokunin.com/en/showroom/
Reference
https://www.keihanhotels-resorts.co.jp/the-thousand-kyoto/sight/gion-higashiyama/nannzennji.html