Skip to main content

mastodon - Link to source

🍁🍂AN AUTUMN GEM😊🍁

I wish I had
my companion to nag...
autumn dusk
小言いふ相手のほしや秋の暮
-Kobayashi Issa, 1823.

Half-forgotten for most of the year, Tenju-an (天授庵), like many of Nanzen-ji's small sub-temples, bursts into life during late autumn.
#Kyoto #京都 #Japan #天授庵

Autumn colours reflected in the pond at Tenju-an.
Entering the gardens of Tenju-an. The path turns at right angles preventing the visitor from seeing anything but a glimpse of colour when they first step foot through the garden gate.
Stretch of sand behind the main hall at Tenju-an, encircled by autumn colours.
A small pine tree grows in the dry landscape garden at Tenju-an...in autumn red and orange leaves make the perfect backdrop.
#Japan #kyoto #京都 #天授庵

reshared this

in reply to Camellia Tea Ceremony

Camellia Tea Ceremony
mastodon - Link to source
Camellia Tea Ceremony
• •

The temple stands on land that first belonged to Saishō-in (最勝院), a hermitage built by Dōchi (道智 1217-69), son of regent Kujō Michiie (九条道家).

Abdicating in 1274, Emperor Kameyama (亀山上皇) took over the grounds to make his sprawling 'Zenrinji-dono' villa (禅林寺殿).
#Nanzenji #南禅寺

Duckhouse in the pond at Tenju-an (covered by a canopy of autumn leaves).
As the sun sets behind the autumn trees it illuminates the vivid oranges and reds.
A golden koi comes up to feed at Tenju-an.
A red maple tree hangs over the path and dry landscape garden at Tenju-an.
#nanzenji #南禅寺
in reply to Camellia Tea Ceremony

Camellia Tea Ceremony
mastodon - Link to source
Camellia Tea Ceremony
• •

The emperor's villa was plagued by a series of hauntings, with members of the household seeing specters walking the hallways (some believed it was the ghost of Dōchi).

After various efforts to exorcise the spirit(s) failed, Kameyama requested the help of Tōfuku-ji's Mukan Fumon.
#Kyoto #ghost

The pond at Nanzen-in (this temple is where the complex of Nanzen-ji began) in autumn.
An offertory box painted with a ghost. Visitors place coins in the ghost's mouth before praying.
The pond at Nanzen-in (this temple is where the complex of Nanzen-ji began) in autumn.
Red leaves at the brick aqueduct that runs through Nanzen-ji.
#ghost #kyoto
in reply to Camellia Tea Ceremony

Camellia Tea Ceremony
mastodon - Link to source
Camellia Tea Ceremony
• •
With the ghost finally gone, in 1290 a grateful emperor gifted Mukan Fumon (無関普門 1212-91) the 'Upper Palace' (上の宮) of Zenrinji-dono.
Out of the existing buildings Mukan created Nanzen-in (南禅院), which would expand to become the great Zen temple of Nanzen-ji (南禅寺).
A couple in kimono take photos beside the brick aqueduct at Nanzen-ji.
The late sun illuminates the autumn colours above Nanzen-in.
The great gate of Nanzen-ji.
A single tree offers autumn colours in the dry landscape garden of Nanzen-ji's abbot's quarters.
in reply to Camellia Tea Ceremony

Camellia Tea Ceremony
mastodon - Link to source
Camellia Tea Ceremony
• •
It is said that Dōchi (道智 1217-69) so loved the Komagataki Waterfall (駒ヶ滝) that it was here his spirit lingered. His hermitage close by became the temple of Saishō-in (最勝院). It was on this land that Emperor Kameyama intruded, thus disturbing Dōchi's ghost.
in reply to Camellia Tea Ceremony

Camellia Tea Ceremony
mastodon - Link to source
Camellia Tea Ceremony
• •
Living as a hermit, on the 3rd day of the 3rd month in 1266 it is said Dōchi became a Bodhisattva and rode a white horse into the heavens. Thereafter known as 'Koma Daisōjō' (駒大僧正 'Horse High Priest'), his death was recorded as 1269 (for this was the last time he was 'seen').
The rocky area about the Komagataki Waterfall is said to have been the haunt of tengu, and the ghost of the high priest Dochi. It is still a popular prayer spot.
The rocky area about the Komagataki Waterfall is said to have been the haunt of tengu, and the ghost of the high priest Dochi. It is still a popular prayer spot.
The rocky area about the Komagataki Waterfall is said to have been the haunt of tengu, and the ghost of the high priest Dochi. It is still a popular prayer spot.
The rocky area about the Komagataki Waterfall is said to have been the haunt of tengu, and the ghost of the high priest Dochi. It is still a popular prayer spot.
in reply to Camellia Tea Ceremony

Camellia Tea Ceremony
mastodon - Link to source
Camellia Tea Ceremony
• •
The 15th abbot of Nanzen-ji, Kokan Shiren (虎関師錬), in 1336 founded Tenju-an (天授庵) to celebrate the temple's 45th anniversary.
Tenju-an was constructed as a Kaisan-tō (開山塔), a religious site honouring the founder of a temple (in this case Mukan Fumon 大明国師).
#Japan
Autumn light up at Tenju-an.
Autumn light up at Tenju-an.
Autumn light up at Tenju-an.
Autumn light up at Tenju-an.
#Japan
in reply to Camellia Tea Ceremony

Camellia Tea Ceremony
mastodon - Link to source
Camellia Tea Ceremony
• •

Tenju-an was named after the Tenju era (天授) in which it was founded. At this time Kokan Shiren (虎関師錬) also landscaped the temple's garden.

Destroyed by a fire in 1393 and during the Ōnin War in 1447 (応仁文明の乱 1467-77), the temple was all but abandoned for many years.

Looking through the abbot's quarters to the autumnal garden beyond.
Maple leaves add splashes of colour to the borders of Tenju-an's dry landscape garden.
Maple leaves add splashes of colour to the borders of Tenju-an's dry landscape garden.
Maple leaves add splashes of colour to the borders of Tenju-an's dry landscape garden.
⇧