Kannon-in Temple

Sitting on the veranda of the study hall, you look out over a pond and a gentle artificial hill. Kannon-in, a Tendai temple in Kamimachi, Tottori City, was a prayer temple of the Ikeda family, the lords of Tottori Domain, and is famous for its garden, a national Place of Scenic Beauty.

The temple was opened in the 1630s and moved to its present site around 1639. It was counted among the eight high-ranking temples of the domain, and it is the 32nd temple of the Chugoku 33 Kannon pilgrimage. The garden was created at the order of Ikeda Mitsunaka over about ten years from 1650. Half of the garden is a pond with turtle and crane islands, the other half a large hill, in a Kyoto-style design showing the influence of Kano-school landscape painting.

The designated area of about 43,845 square meters includes the hill behind the temple, Gendayu-yama. Visits include matcha and an explanation, and the grounds are shown with cherry blossoms in spring. The garden was designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 1937; the Agency for Cultural Affairs database describes a pond at the foot of an artificial hill, with a waterfall mouth and islet set among trimmed garden trees, as a good example of a Kyoto-style garden adapted to the provinces. Annual events include equinox services in March and September and the Tendai Daishi memorial on November 24. It is about 15 minutes on foot from JR Tottori Station.