Tenryu ji was our go to site this morning. I read one building had an amazing tapestry of Buddha obtaining nirvana which is hundreds of years old and another a modern dragon ceiling. Dragon ceiling link. The large painting of a cloud dragon ceiling seems to be directly looking at you where ever you are in the building. This effect, known in Japanese as happo-nirami ("all direction gaze"), symbolizes the all-seeing eyes with which the dragon protects Buddhism. Painted in 1997 by the famous Japanese painter Matazō Kayama, it was one of several commemorative projects commissioned for the 650th anniversary of the death of Musō Soseki. And who is Musō Soseki , well you can read all about him here.
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| Brochure photo |
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| Susan photo |
We loved Jingo ji temple, which was our next stop. In spite of being so near the crowds, it was majestically empty. This might be due to the hundreds of stairs you have to climb to get there. And the fact it isn’t fall leaf season. It gets crazy then. In the spring, it is peaceful and empty. And we got to throw our bad karma to the wind. Very fun.
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| The disk you use to throw your bad karma away |
On the way back we went to Kennin ji temple as they had another dragon ceiling painting. Constructed in 1202, it is considered to be the oldest zen temple in Kyoto, while the dragon ceiling was just a few years old. Yep, even another new dragon ceiling was enough to draw us in.
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| Dragon screens, a very nice bonus. |
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| It is a very nice ceiling |
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| Plum blossoms. Very nice. |
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