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Entsuji – a garden like a picture

This August, I attended the reunion of landscape architecture course at Kyoto University. It was the first reunion since I graduated a quarter century ago. Time flies, indeed. All my friends, who were young nice boys, are in middle age with some gray hair or without hair now.

A garden of Entsuji temple, Kyoto

During my stay, I visited the garden at Entsuji temple, which is one of my favorite gardens. The temple is located in Kamigamo area, the northern area of Kyoto. The garden itself is a kind of humble Japanese dry garden. But it is famous for the borrowed landscape technique. Over pruned evergreen hedges, you will see Hiei mountain as if it is a part of the garden.

The garden can be seen from a tatami mat room of the temple building.  A wide opening of the tatami mat room looks like a picture frame to crop the garden. All visitors were quiet and just sat on tatatmi mats for a while to see this quiet garden. When I was in twenties, I encountered a changing weather in this garden. It was a magnificent moving picture. So I have been charmed by this garden since then.

I love Kyoto. My wife and I often talk about living there when we retire or if we can retire. One problem is how to survive its tropical summer. When I visited Kyoto, it was over 100 degree F! People cannot live without air conditioners. It is very hard for me since I have lived in cool Connecticut.(T)

Blog

Entsuji – a garden like a picture

This August, I attended the reunion of landscape architecture course at Kyoto University. It was the first reunion since I graduated a quarter century ago. Time flies, indeed. All my friends, who were young nice boys, are in middle age with some gray hair or without hair now.

A garden of Entsuji temple, Kyoto

During my stay, I visited the garden at Entsuji temple, which is one of my favorite gardens. The temple is located in Kamigamo area, the northern area of Kyoto. The garden itself is a kind of humble Japanese dry garden. But it is famous for the borrowed landscape technique. Over pruned evergreen hedges, you will see Hiei mountain as if it is a part of the garden.

The garden can be seen from a tatami mat room of the temple building.  A wide opening of the tatami mat room looks like a picture frame to crop the garden. All visitors were quiet and just sat on tatatmi mats for a while to see this quiet garden. When I was in twenties, I encountered a changing weather in this garden. It was a magnificent moving picture. So I have been charmed by this garden since then.

I love Kyoto. My wife and I often talk about living there when we retire or if we can retire. One problem is how to survive its tropical summer. When I visited Kyoto, it was over 100 degree F! People cannot live without air conditioners. It is very hard for me since I have lived in cool Connecticut.(T)

Japanese + Modern

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