Synopsis
Created as a Pure Land Paradise Garden, then redesigned by Muso Soseki in 1339. The moss garden is also called the lower garden since the temple complex also includes a raked gravel or Karesansui garden which is not open to the public. The garden we see today owes much of its beauty to an act of neglect in some ways as trees have been allowed to grow beyond their originally intended size. The garden pond is formed in the shape of the japanese kanji for "heart". Visits to the garden require prior apllication online and visitors are first required to sit in a large tatami mat room within the temple and copy the heart sutra, the central incantation of Buddhism, which they then keep.
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