Name: Saimyoji    Alternate Name: Saimyo-ji  Address:   Mailing Address:   City: Inukami-gun  State: Shiga-ken  Postal Code:   Country: JAPAN  Latitude/Longitude: lat=35.2; long=136.333 Find Gardens Nearby Phone:   Fax:   E-Mail:   Contact:   Designer(s):   Contruction Date: Middle Edo  Public/Private: PUBLIC  Hours:   Admission:   Added to JGarden: 12/28/2000  Last Updated: 12/28/2000  JGarden Description: The temple on this site is quite ancient and is thought to have been built in 836, during the Heian period. The garden is located on the south side of the study and was probably not built until the middle Edo period, though even this has been reconstructed several times following various floods and landslides. The garden consists of many stones assembled in groups among hillocks of various sizes. The are also three waterfalls and a stone slab bridge leading to a kamejima (turtle island) stone island. The later element is probably a later addition to the design.

Japan a great stone garden in the sea. Echoes of hoes and weeding, Centuries of leading hill-creeks down To ditch and pool in fragile knee deep fields. Leafy sunshine rustling on a man Chipping a foot-square rough hinoki beam; I thought I heard an axe chop in the woods It broke the dream; and woke up dreaming on a train. It must have been a thousand years ago In some old mountain sawmill of Japan. A horde of excess poets and unwed girls And I that night prowled Tokyo like a bear Tracking the human future Of intelligence and despair.   Gary Snyder   Riprap