Seoul, Kyoto, & Osaka Journal. June 14th, 2026

Tofuku-ji, Imakumano Kannon-ji, Kōshō-ji, Nishi Hongwanji

In the hotel, we had breakfast in the Japanese restaurant, rather than the buffet.

The breakfast contains some tofu skin items which is a traditional Kyoto ingredient.

Took the train to Tofukuji station to see the Tofukuji temple and its bridges. Rinzai Zen Buddhism is practiced at this temple. One aspect of Rinzai is the use of koans such is this, by one of the former abbots of Tofukuji:

"Two people are walking down the street. It begins to rain heavily. One gets soaked, but the other does not get wet at all. Why?"

You enter the temple through a covered bridge, and there are two more bridges on the grounds. On the ceiling of the Main Hall, there is a 22 by 11 meter ink painting of a dragon flying among the clouds. It grasps in its claws, a gem representing enlightenment. An elderly gentleman who appeared to be a temple member pointed out a two meter hand high hand, standing against a wall of the Main Hall. It had been rescued from the 15 meter high Great Buddha Statue that was destroyed when the temple burned in 1881. This statue was comparable to the Great Buddha statues of Kamakura and Todaiji.

Gaun-kyo Bridge, which is actually outside the temple grounds.

Main Hall

Main hall ceiling.

There were gardens, halls, and pagodas throughout the temple precincts.

A bride posing for a pre-wedding photoshoot at Tsuten-kyo Bridge.

There were interesting checkerboard patterns recurring in the sand, shrub, and moss gardens. It was pattern that I noticed several times on this trip.

Ichimatsu sunamori (市松砂盛), named after the Japanese Ichimatsu checkerboard pattern.

Shion-chi Pond (思遠池). We unfortunately missed the peak blooming of the sculptured azaleas.

Raked sand in the garden at the Abbot's Quarters resembles ripples around pilings.

The rocks represent the mythical mountain islands of the immortals in ancient Chinese and Taoist mythology, while the mounds in the background represent the five sacred mountains of Zen Buddhism in China.

Checkerboard pattern done with shrubbery.

Checkerboard pattern done with moss.

We were able to catch a taxi to Imakumano Kannon-ji Temple. It wasn’t far as the (three-legged?) crow flies, but it would have been a long walk, with a big hill at the end. Imakumano Kannon-ji is temple 15 of the Western Japan 33 Kannon pilgrimage. While we were in the main hall a couple came in and recited the Heart Sutra in front of the altar. This is something commonly done when on a pilgrimage.

Votive tablet listing the donors to the temple.

A small Inari shrine. Inari shrines often serve a guardians at Shingon temples.

Along this path winding through a bamboo grove, are small shrines representing each of the 33 temples in the Western Japan Kannon Pilgrimage. One can symbolically complete the entire pilgrimage here.

Bridge leading to Imakumano Temple.

There were no taxis around so we walked down the slope of Higashiyama towards the station, getting lunch at a 7 eleven. Surprisingly for a Sunday, it was packed with kids in school uniforms. Fortunately we were able to get a spot at the store’s lunch table before they were all taken.

7 Eleven Salad Sushi

We took the train back to Kyoto Station, then walked to what we thought was Nishi Hongwanji. When we went to the gift shop to get a goshuin stamp, we saw a sign that said “This is not Nishi Hongwanji”. It was actually Kōshō-ji. Since the grounds and the halls were so similar, and they share a moat and walls, and they are both Pure Land sect, it’s easy to confuse them.

This 221 series suburban electric multiple unit running on the Nara line is the only one to get this distinctive "Kyoto Tea Country" wrap, so we were kind of lucky to see it.

Pedestrian overpass on the way to Nishi Hongwangi.

Goeidō (御影堂) or Founders hall at Koshoji which was rebuilt in 1912 after the previous structure was destroyed in a fire.

Nishi Honganji had a nice gift shop, and we got bags for our ojuzu beads there. The Amida Buddha Hall is an example of large-scale Edo period engineering. It’s a national treasure. When I took off my shoes and entered the hall, all the inner doors to the altar were closed, but after a while priests opened them up. I was also able to cross on the covered walkway to Founders Hall, which is an even larger structure. The public area of this hall has 441 tatami mats, accommodating 1200, where the Amida Buddha Hall has 285 tatami mats, accommodating around 800 people. Unfortunately the inner doors to this hall were closed, but I was impressed by the size of the immense lanterns inside the hall. It was nice to visit Nishi Hongwanji, as Kona’s Hongwanji Temple is in the same lineage.

The altar in the Amida Hall. Enshrined is the Amida Buddha - the Pure Land Buddha.

Some of the lanterns inside the Founder's Hall look like straw rice bales (koku), but actually they represent jeweled lanterns described in the Pure Land sutras.