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 appearance was the consequence of the action of the elements.
Look at the exposed roots of the tree. You can imagine the wind and weather has stripped the earth from the base of the tree. Or you could easily think that the tree has worked its way out of the ground. You could imagine it did that after being battered by the elements over man years. It is easy to believe that because that is what it looks like. Anyone who has hiked in the countryside is familiar with this kind of scene.
That’s what it looks like. But in fact the tree is within the Eikan-do temple complex, closely surrounded by the buildings. The tree is located just to the right outside the room shown in this second photo. Beyond the railing is a small stream with Koi carp. And that connects to the river to the right of the big tree.
The Buddhist monks of the temple have created this impression of nature. It is in homage to the underlying rhythm and beauty of the order of things. The form of things speaks about the things that words cannot describe.
Shoes With Shiny Leather Soles Meet Shiny Wooden Bridges
By the way, I have mentioned before that there are in fact not that many places in Japan where you must take off your shoes when walking around. Eikan-do is one of them. The monks provide slip-on leather shoes to shuffle around in. I say shuffle because walking over the little hump-backed bridges requires a shuffle to negotiate.
A View From A Building At Eikan-do Temple
This is one of several posts on our travels in Japan in Spring 2024. Here is an article on the Meiji Jingu Shrine In Tokyo. And an article on the Koishikawa Korakuen garden in Tokyo.