Ryoanji Temple

Ryoanji Temple

Ryoanji Temple (龍安寺) was a Zen temple built in 1450 by Katsumoto Hosokawa, a government official of the Ashikaga Shogun. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto" in 1994. The 25 meter wide and 10 meter deep stone garden and the dry landscape hojo garden are famous, with white sand and 15 stones arranged so that one no stone can be seen from any position. In spring, you can see cherry blossoms and the landscape of the rock garden. On the south side of the temple is the Kyoyochi pond, and there is a Chisen Kaiyu style garden where you can enjoy seasonal flowers such as cherry blossoms while walking around the temple grounds.

You go through the Sanmon gate at the entrance of Ryoanji, there is a signboard to the stone garden, and you walk through the wide precincts.
There was a pond called Kyoyo-ike(鏡容池) in the precincts, and cherry blossoms were blooming beautifully during the cherry blossom season.

Address

13 Ryoanji Goryonoshitacho, Ukyo Ward, Kyoto

Telephone

+81-75-463-2216

Business Hours

From 1st,Mar. to 30th,Dec. : 8:00-17:00
From 1st,Dec. to End of Feb. : 8:30-16:30

Access

[By Bus] About 11 minutes on foot from “Ritsumeikan Daigaku-mae” bus stop.

Parking lots

1 hour free only for visitors to the stone garden(石庭).

Web Site

http://www.ryoanji.jp/smph/index.html

Last Updated: June.2020