Daikaku-ji Temple

East of the main grounds of Daikaku-ji lies Osawa Pond, about one kilometer around. It is said to have been modeled on China's Lake Dongting and is regarded as Japan's oldest artificial garden pond. Two islands, Tenjin-jima and Kikuga-shima, sit in the water together with a rock called the Kotei-seki. This arrangement of two islands and one stone is explained as the root of the basic form of Saga Goryu, the ikebana school that was born at Daikaku-ji. A red pagoda, the Shinkyo Hoto, stands on the shore, and so does the tea house Boun-tei, rebuilt in 1975. The pond is a National Place of Scenic Beauty, and to its north are the remains of the Nagoso Falls, whose water had already run dry by the end of the Heian period.

The temple began as the Saga-in, a detached palace built by Emperor Saga in the early Heian period. According to tradition, Kukai built a small hall called Gokaku-in inside the palace and performed rites there, and in 876 Princess Shoshi turned the palace into a temple. In 1308 Retired Emperor Go-Uda restored it and ruled from here as cloistered emperor. For that reason it is also called Saga Gosho, and one line of the imperial family came to be known as the Daikakuji line. It is also said that in 1392, when the Northern and Southern Courts reconciled, the Three Sacred Treasures were handed over in the Shoshinden. Most of the buildings were lost in the Onin War, but Kusho became head of the temple in 1589 and set about rebuilding, and by the Kan'ei era (1624-1644) the temple had taken roughly its present form.

Among the buildings, the Shinden, a shinden-style hall said to have been moved from the residence of Tofukumon-in, and the Shoshinden, a shoin-style hall from the Momoyama period, are both Important Cultural Properties. The Shinden holds sliding-door paintings of peonies and red plums by Kano Sanraku, though the ones now displayed are reproductions. In the Shoshinden's Okanmuri-no-ma stands a throne, said to recreate the room where Retired Emperor Go-Uda conducted his cloistered rule. The Godo, the main hall built in the Tenmei era (1781-1789), enshrines the principal image, the Five Great Wisdom Kings. There is a great deal to see on foot: the Shikidai entrance said to have come from the Kyoto Imperial Palace, the Kara-mon gate, the Akechi Jinya, the treasure hall, and the covered corridor called Murasame-no-Rokka linking the buildings. Two of the temple's treasures are National Treasures: Go-Uda's handwritten will with his handprint and his handwritten biography of Kukai.

Events fill the calendar, including the Hanamatsuri on April 8, the Aoba Festival on June 15, the Mando Mange-e on August 20, the moon-viewing evening in October and the Saga chrysanthemum exhibition in November. Around the harvest moon, boats are put on Osawa Pond for moon viewing, and in autumn the Shinkyo Hoto reflected in the water is a favorite sight. The grounds are also often used as a filming location for period dramas and films.

To get here, you can walk from Saga-Arashiyama Station on the JR Sagano Line, or take a city bus or Kyoto Bus to the Daikakuji stop nearby. The temple lies about 1.4 km from Tenryu-ji and the Bamboo Path in Sagano, so it combines easily with a day of strolling around Arashiyama.