My persoan favorite, at least for Zen gardens in Ktoto, is the famous Ryoan-ji. The approach by the lake, the marvolous entry and the rock garden are all stunning.
Honen-in
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Next we visit Honen-in, a small temple complex with beautiful views and details, all carefully considered. The gate making you rise up before entering, a sense of ascending.
The small details are stunningly calming and tie the entire experience together. you never feel like it is only a small garden tucked in next to the mountain.
The departure lifts you out of the wonderful place and sets you back down into the bustling city of Kyoto.
Saiho-ji – Kyoto
No visit to Kyoto would be complete without seeing Saiho-ji, the great Zen moss garden. You must make a reservation and sit through the ceremony. It is the ceremonial ritual that calms your mind and prepares you for the serene beauty you are about to see.
The curve of the tree, the reflection of the water, the softness of the surface, the green of the moss, all come together to form an ever changing composition as you stroll through the garden. Then there are the manmade interventions. Beautiful constructions that almost appear to have grown out of the landscape.
The details in the construction are so simple yet elegant. As an architect I marvel at the how perfect the fit and the detail functions, both visually and technically.
And finally it is time to leave Saiho-ji.
The Beginning
As an architect, I guess I have a certain visual sensibility which seems to fit well with the traveller part of me. I have not always been an architect though I have always been a traveller. Even before I became an architect I still wanted to see much of the world’s built and natural environments. I took every opportunity that was given to me to make detours to visit some new or old building or some spectacular or unusual landscape.
This blog is the story of these journeys. The idea for the telling of my travels started with a visit to Oaxaca, Mexico and the Zapotec site of Yagul, hence the website name. But this web story will start in Japan, in the ancient city of Kyoto. It is a place of beauty, warmth and serenity where I could linger for a very long time.
Hello world!
The world is such a small place, at least in terms of the universe we live in, so it seems only fitting to want to explore as much of it as one can. This blog is a time capsule of those places I have been fortunate to visit and a wish list of the many places left to see. Let us travel together and see what is out there on this planet.
Be patient as this blog evolves. I hope to see you here again soon.
