Gardens at Jodo-ji Temple Onomichi

 

Jodo-ji is an ancient temple said to have been founded by Prince Shotoku Taishi in the early 7th century.

Many of the current buildings date to the early 14th century and two are Nationl Treasures.

Surprisingly Jodo-ji is located nowhere near Kyoto or Nara, but in the old port town of Onomichi in Hiroshima.

On this visit I was walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage and Jodo-ji is temple number 9.

Next post I will cover the temple, but for now I focus on the garden.

The garden only dates back to the Edo Period.

Dated to 1806, the designer was Hasegawa Senryu, claimed to be a 13th generation descendant of Sesshu the famed artist and garden designer.

Curious as there were no records of Sesshu having any children.

Generally it is considered a karesansui garden, although a narrow waterway, barely visibly, runs between the area of raked gravel and the artificial hill.

Overlooking the garden is the teahouse Rotekian.

This was originally located inside Momoyama Castle by Hideyoshi.

It was moved here in 1814.

Unfortunately, the garden around the teahouse is rarely open to the public.

There is also a smaller South Garden, photos below....

The previous post in this series was on the ferry ride getting to Onomichi