When you observe the garden from a seated position, at least one of the rocks is always hidden from the viewer. The garden is meant to be viewed from a seated position on the terrace of the head priest’s former residence called Hojo. The garden is a rectangle of 25 meters and 10 meters, and 15 stones of different sizes are carefully laid out in five groups. The current garden was recreated at the end of the 18th century. The exact date of construction, as well as the designer of the garden, are unknown and the original garden was destroyed by a fire. The temple itself was originally a villa of an aristocrat during the Heian Period (794-1185) and was converted into a zen temple in 1450. The rock garden of Ryoanji Temple is the most famous and visited rock garden in Japan.

Here is our list of the most beautiful zen gardens in Kyoto. During the Muromachi Period (1336-1573), the capital was moved to Kyoto where many important zen temples with Japanese rock gardens were built in Kyoto. These rock gardens resembled the Chinese gardens of the Song dynasty, with a strict arrangement of stones. Japanese rock gardens have existed for centuries, it was already in 1251 when the first rock garden was built in the city of Kamakura, which was the nation’s capital at the time. The white sand and gravel, which are carefully raked each day by monks, represent (flowing) water. The rocks can be arranged vertically or flat to represent mountains, waterfalls, or islands. Zen gardens, or karesansui, are also known as dry rock gardens or dry landscape gardens and are a symbolic representation of the world and help the monks with the meditation about the meaning of existence.

The Japanese rock gardens are designed to recreate all the garden elements using rocks, gravel, and sand, along with moss and shrubs, however, do not contain water. Traditional Japanese gardens represent natural sceneries and spiritual and philosophical ideas by incorporating natural materials such as ponds, streams, islands, and hills.

Buddhist zen gardens