Kyoto gardens-1

     I recently returned from touring 33 gardens in Kyoto, Japan--almost all connected with Buddhist temples.  As I am a moss aficionado, I was most interested in how they use moss in Japan.  I identified most of them.  Most mosses I saw can be found in my state of Wisconsin, though the most common one, Polytrichum commune, is only rarely found in southern Wisconsin, where I live.

     As the Japanese have a reputation for order and a clean environment, I was surprised and disappointed to find that, in general, maintenance of the mosses was fair to poor.  Only four gardens had what I would call good maintenance--few or no weeds, bare spots, debris, etc.

     I will display my photos in several different posts, as there are so many.  So, it will take several weeks before I post them all.  And there will be a further delay, as I will be on a trip to Arizona all next week.

     Photo 1 is from Gio-ji, probably the best maintained garden I saw. 

     Photo 2-4 are from Saiho-ji, the most famous moss garden in Japan.  It is also called Kokedera, which means Moss Temple in English.  Koke is moss in Japanese.  It is huge, with four acres of moss in a rolling wooded area with a pond.  It cost about $30 to visit, and about 110 people tour at ten in the morning and another 110 in the afternoon.  So, with over $6000 in revenue a day, one would expect better maintenance that I saw. 

     Ryogen-in appears in Photo 5.

     Photo 6 shows Obai-in, my favorite moss garden in Japan.  I also visited it in April 2014, but now it even looks better as the Polytrichum mosses look greener, better than in spring when they brown up somewhat.

     Photos 7&8 are from Korin-in.  Photo 9 is from Koto-in.  Photo 10 is from Anraku-ji.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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