Saihō-ji

西芳寺
temple in Kyoto
#92 in Kyoto / #992 in Japan
Photo
by Ivanoff~commonswiki
/ CC BY-SA 3.0

Saihō-ji, also known as Koke-dera or "Moss Temple," is a historic temple located in Kyoto, Japan. Renowned for its lush moss garden, Saihō-ji is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a prime example of Japanese garden design. The temple was originally founded in the Nara period as a Hosso Buddhist temple but was later converted to a Rinzai Zen temple by the famous monk Musō Soseki in the 14th century. The garden features a variety of moss species that create a serene, green carpet, interspersed with stone pathways and a central pond shaped like the Chinese character for "heart" or "mind.


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