Hosein Temple in O'hara, Kyoto

Hosen-in Temple is distinguished by its gardens. There is a 700 year old pine tree. When you look at the tree from outside, it has been shaped to resemble Fuji mountain. I was not aware of this.This is one of the buildings that I visited that was called a "temple" but had a residential feel to it, so it could have been the residence of monks and the abbot of a hall found elsewhere.

There is a waterfall at the entrance.

The dining room, with a hearth in which to keep food warm and a view of a garden outside.

The crane and turtle garden is 300 years old. It is framed by the poles of the walkway, making it look like an illustration. The turtle and crane are symbols for long life.

The 700 year old pine. It was not possible to capture it in its entirety with my camera and up so close.

In this lavatory, you hear water making different sounds when it falls on rocks located below it. Monks use a musical instrument of stone. When they are practicing religious songs, they use those stones to train their voices.

There is a bit gruesome story. Around 1600 there was a battle at Fushimi castle in Kyoto. The samurai of Fushimi lost the fight. 370 samurai committed seppuku, the suicide of the samurai. The planks used as the ceiling of this temple where originally those of the floor of Fushimi castle. Supposedly you can still see the traces of the cruel event. There are markings representing the eye, nose, eyebrow and mouth of the dying samurais; the traces are from the blood of the warriors.

Past a fence there is a beautiful garden with giant boulders and sand raked in patterns, surrounded by lush planting. It is one of the most beautiful ones I experienced while in Kyoto.

The lavatory has an interesting pattern of rocks placed underneath.

Often while in Japan I saw people taking pictures of tree leaves and plants up close, so I started imitating them, so that I would learn what they were focusing on.

In the case of the tree leaves above, the group photographing up close had found this larvae. Very observant of them...

When practicing Zen in San Francisco, I also had the opportunity of seeing beautiful gardens in which there would be a little altar to the Buddha. It was heart warming that one would daily make an offering of tea, sweet rice and incense to the Buddha, as was done here.