Saiho-ji Temple, Kyoto

Saiho-ji Temple is a Rinzai Zen Buddhist temple in Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto. This temple is often called Koke-dera, or the Moss Temple, as it is famous for its moss garden.

The history of this temple is traced to the Nara Period. It was originally a Hosso temple dedicated to the Amitabha, and the name Saiho-ji was selected because the Amitabha is the primary Buddha of Western Paradise, or Saiho Jodo.

By the 14th century, Saiho-ji had fallen into disrepair when Fujiwara Chikahide, the chief priest of neighboring Matsunoo Shrine, engaged famous Japanese landscape gardener Muso Soseki, to help him revive Saiho-ji into a Zen temple.

The moss for which Saiho-ji is so famous for is in fact not part of Muso Soseki's design. According to French historian François Berthier, Muso Soseki designed the garden to be blanketed with white sand. The moss started to appear only in the 19th century, when the monastery lacked the funds and manpower to upkeep it.

Saiho-ji Temple's


Saiho-ji Temple's Moss Garden

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

 Discover with Timothy YouTube Channel

 PG Food Channel

 Learn Penang Hokkien YouTube Channel

SojiMart Videos

 Share your travels and/or ask a travel-related question

Join the Penang Travel Tips Facebook Group to share photos, tips and anything related to your travels, or ask travel-related questions.

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

Discover with Timothy

Let me take you to explore and discover Penang through my series of walking tours on YouTube. You may use these videos as your virtual tour guide. At the beginning of each video, I provide the starting point coordinates which you may key into your GPS, Google Maps or Waze, to be navigated to where I start the walk, and use the video as your virtual tour guide.

Disclaimer

Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.

Latest from Discover with Timothy: Gurney Bay - what to see and do there

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.

Robbie's Roadmap