The first thing that will strike any reader on opening "Zen Gardens and Temples of Kyoto" is that this book is a work of photographic art. The photos of John Einarsen span all seasons and somehow ...

Kita-no-Mandokoro, wife of the lord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–98), ordered the construction of Kōdaiji in 1606 to pray for her husband’s departed soul. The temple’s formal title is Kōdaijushōzenji—said ...

The gardens of Japan have fascinated ever since the 1854 Treaty of Kamagawa opened the country to the West and they first came to the attention of the garden-making cognoscenti. Imitations are now ...

The gardens of Japan have graced both landscape and life for over a thousand years. Regarded as works of art, they lend insight into the nation’s history and culture. In Japanese Garden Design, ...

It was a chilly autumn morning in Kyoto’s Komyo-in Temple. Facing a serene rock garden, a group of art collectors and curators were in the midst of a group zazen – a Zen Buddhist meditation session.

From the Hello Kitty Haruka Express to Heian Jingu Shrine, Gemma Fullam explores one of Japan's most fascinating cities Kinkakuji's paradise gardens, which include a flying crane lake and a tortoise ...

I like nothing better than to go and explore gardens and to let my imagination ponder on what's to be seen. Kyoto has plenty of places just waiting to be discovered, and the best way to go and see its ...

Tofuku-ji Temple is arguably the spot for viewing the changing colors of the autumn leaves. The main garden’s path takes you through a forest of maple trees and then up above it – via the famous ...

A new study has found that a delicate moss, which gives temple grounds their distinctive air of mellow tranquillity, is in rapid decline because of warmer weather and changing rainfall. The research, ...

In the world of Japanese landscape gardening, whether as writers, apprentices or designers, women seem to be conspicuous by their absence. There are, however, a small number of notable exceptions.