Hōsen-in

photo by Arvined Winstud · CC BY-SA 3.0

The ticket includes tea: you sit on the tatami and stay as long as you like.

You go in, sit on the tatami (the rice-straw mats) facing an open veranda, and a bowl of powdered green tea arrives. You look at the garden through the pillars and the beam, which cut it like the frame of a painting. In the centre stands a five-needle pine over five hundred years old, pruned to resemble a mountain.

A temple in Ōhara, the valley north of Kyoto. The garden is called Hōraku-en and is viewed from inside, framed by the pillars of the veranda. The five-needle pine at its centre is over five hundred years old and is a Natural Monument; its shape recalls Mount Ibuki, which locally is called ‘the Fuji of Ōmi’. The ceiling of the hall is made from the boards of the room in Fushimi Castle where in 1600 a besieged garrison killed itself.

ℹ️ ¥1,000 adults, ¥900 junior high and high school students, ¥800 children; 10% discount for groups of thirty. The powdered green tea is included in the ticket and is served in the hall, facing the garden. Open 9:00–17:00 every day, admission until 16:30. ⚠️ It is the most expensive of the Ōhara temples, and the visit is a sitting: if you are in a hurry to see four temples in an afternoon, here you lose time on purpose.

🚉 Umenomiya-mae · 11 min walk

Sources: kyoto-ohara-kankouhosyoukai.net

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