A sub-temple of the great Daitoku-ji complex, the gardens at Ryogen-in date from the Muromachi period (1333–1568). The compact grounds contain a fascinating ensemble of five gardens. The Ryugin-tei (Dragon Singing Garden), a Shumisen-style stone design, is one of the oldest karesansui in Japan. Thirty rocks, including the central sanzonseki grouping of three stones, a standing central rock and two lower “sentries,” sit in a bed of spongy spruce moss representing a vast ocean. The tallest rock of the three, tilted eastwards, represents Mount Shumisen. The temple literature cites Soami as the creator but this is a disputed claim, with some garden specialists attributing it to Soboku Tokei, who founded the temple in 1502. A third group of scholars claims that the garden was completed after Tokei’s death in 1517.
A slim tsuboniwa (courtyard garden), called the Totekiko, lies between the main temple and the kitchen. Constructed in 1958 and consisting solely of small rocks and sand, its understated refinement makes it one of the most interesting gardens at Ryogen-in.
The clean, almost contemporary angularity of another garden, the Isshiden, is attributable to renovation work that took place in the 1980s. The name is derived from the temple’s founder, Tokei, who, having solved a difficult Zen riddle, was given the name Ryozan-isshi-no-ken. The simplicity of the design makes it easy to pick out its symbolism: islands and rocks representing the crane and tortoise themes and China’s mythical Mount Horai, the dwelling place of immortal sages, artfully positioned in an expanse of ocean symbolized by raked white sand.
The simple refinement of a narrow tsuboniwa (courtyard garden). Designed in 1958, it is a later addition to the gardens at Ryogen-in.
An iron lantern along the east side of the temple contrasts with afternoon shadow and sudare (reed shutters).
One of the oldest dry landscape gardens in Japan, the northern-facing Ryugintei (Dragon Singing Garden) was built in the early 1500s. The moss-covered garden is dominated by a sharply angled rock representing the mythological Mount Shumisen.
Said to be the smallest rock garden in Japan, the Totekiko consists of a stone representing a single drop of water dropped into a limitless sea, its ripples connecting with the infinite and the boundless.