Before the moss garden you copy a sutra: you go in only once you have done it.
The temple is known as ‘Kokedera’, the moss temple: about 120 varieties cover the ground of the garden in a continuous green carpet which, according to the temple, was not designed that way but grew by itself over the centuries, replacing the original white sand. Since 1977 visits have been possible only by advance booking, and are preceded by a session of copying a Buddhist sutra with brush and ink in the main hall: only afterwards, in silence, do you move on into the garden.
Founded in the Nara period, it was turned into a Zen temple in the fourteenth century by the monk Musō Soseki, who designed its garden: that garden set the pattern and is considered the model that both Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji looked to, generations later. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994.
ℹ️ Booking required well in advance (online or by postcard); visitors without a booking are not accepted. Participation fee (冥加料) of 4,000 yen per person for online bookings. The visit includes the sutra copying and lasts about an hour and a half in all.
🚉 Matsuo-taisha · 17 min walk
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