Gardens at Raizan Sennyoji Temple

 

The pond garden at Raizan Sennyiji Temple is said to be one of the oldest gardens in all of Kyushu.

The temple is situated on the slopes of Mount Raizan in southern Fukuoka near the border with Saga.

The temple itself is said to have been founded about four centuries before Buddhism was officially introduced to Japan in the 6th century.

The pond garden is said to date back to the Muromachi Period (1336-1573)

Many temple gardens, like this one, were designed to be viewed from the Shoin study.

That is closed off to the public, but from the Reception Hall there are several viewpoints looking into the garden.

The main hall is above the garden, and from the corridor leading up to it there are also some views looking into and then down onto the garden.

The first garden you see on entering the temple grounds however is a dry landscape garden built around a huge maple tree.

Said to be 400 years old, the maple was planted by Kuroda Tsugukata in 1573 when he restored the temple.

There are a lot of maples at Sennyoji, so it is a popular spot in the autumn.

It also has a remarkable Thousand-Armed Kannon.

Sennyoji is somewhat off the beaten track with very limited access by bus, so most people drive.

I visited on day 75 of my walk along the Kyushu Pilgrimage.

I will be doing three more posts on this temple as it has a lot to see, including the lower temple area and the rakan statues on the hillside, and the Kannon and Founders Hall.

The previous post was on Ryuzenji Temple which I visited earlier in the morning