Travel

Jizo-in is a Buddhist temple in Arashiyama, a residential district in the west of Kyoto. There is a small gate and then bamboo groves either side of a path that leads up to a small temple. Beyond that is a small house where visitors can sit and look out over the open side to a garden. Hosokawa Yoriyuki founded Jizo-in temple in 1367. He was a samurai of the Hosokawa clan, and an ally of … Read more

The Eikan-do temple (pronounced EEK-AN-DOUGH) is in Kyoto. It is a complex of traditional wooden buildings with little bridges connect them. Rather than describe it, let these photographs do the talking. The skill is in making nature seem to be twisting this way and that. You can imagine the way the wind and weather causes the tree to lean. In fact the designers have trained the tree. It is designed to look as though its … Read more

Koishikawa Korakuen is a formal garden in Tokyo. The Mito family of the Tokugawa clan built it in the early 1600s. Today, high-rise buildings surround it close by. And to one side is the white dome of the Tokyo Indoor Baseball Stadium rising like the top of a flying saucer over the garden. The visitors sit and enjoy the garden. Are they ignoring the stadium, or are they oblivious to it? I am struck not … Read more

Meiji Jingu Shinto shrine is in Tokyo. It memorialises the spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. Erected in 1920, and destroyed in the firebombing in World War II. And built again after the war. This Torii (Shinto gate) dominates the entrance to Meiji . You have to look at the people to get a sense of scale. The next two photos show trees along what looks like a windswept path. In fact … Read more