Kyoto 3--Tofuku-ji and Komyo-in

     Tofuku-ji is one of my favorite temples in Japan, visiting it in 2014 and last month.  It has a deep ravine on its edge, making for beautiful landscapes, with a great deal of superb Japanese maples.  It has a raked-gravel artificial sea with mounded moss areas, rare in the 56 gardens I visited in Japan.  The moss on those areas is Polytrichum commune, the most common moss used in Japan.  It looked beautiful in November, but it was largely brown when I visited in April 2014, likely the effect of winter conditions.  I thought the checkerboard moss garden was a bit hokey.

     The last two photos were taken in nearby Komyo-in temple.  It was much smaller and better maintained, without the weeds, leaves, and debris of the heavily visited Tofuku-ji.