Tenryu-ji

🛕 Temple

Part of Arashiyama

📍

Prefecture

Kyoto

🛕

Type

Temple

⭐

N/A

1 review

🎟️

¥500

Entry Fee

🍽️ Restaurant 🚃 Train Access 🥗 Vegetarian

About This Destination

World Heritage Site, head temple of the Tenryu branch of Rinzai Zen. The Sogenchi garden uses the Arashiyama mountains as borrowed scenery.

Established 1339 by shogun Ashikaga Takauji to console Emperor Go-Daigo's spirit. Ranks first among Kyoto's Five Great Zen Temples. The Sogenchi garden by Zen monk Muso Soseki is one of Japan's earliest borrowed-scenery gardens—it pulls the Arashiyama mountains and Kameyama hills into the composition. The garden kept its original form for 700+ years despite fires destroying the buildings. Current buildings are mostly Meiji-era. The Dharma Hall ceiling has a Cloud Dragon by Kayama Matazo (1997). Rear garden connects directly to the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove.

Location

Prefecture: Kyoto

Address: 68 Susukinobaba-cho, Saga-Tenryuji, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto 616-8385

Nearest Station: Arashiyama Station (Keifuku Line)

View on Google Maps

Visitor Information

Credit Cards: Unknown

Food Options: Shigetsu, the temple's shojin ryori (Zen vegetarian cuisine) restaurant, serves traditional multi-course Buddhist meals in a tatami room overlooking the Sogenchi garden.

Official Website