Konchi in Temple Kyoto

Established in the late 14th century, Konchi - in Temple is one of the famous sub temples in the Nanzen-ji Temple complex in Kyoto city.

The temple was renovated and shifted to its present location by Suden Ishin, the political director to Tokugawa Ieyasu and a renowned priest.

Features

- Konchi – in, famous for its dry stone garden of Edo period, stands just outside the Nanzenji temple.
- The spectacular dry landscape and pond garden of the temple is considered as a place of scenic beauty by Japan’s National Government.
- As one gets into the entrance courtyard of the temple from the street, the Akechi-mon gate welcomes the visitor. Though the gate was originally constructed in 1581, it was shifted to its present position in 1868.
- When you proceed through this gate the picturesque view of the garden encircling Benten Ike, the sacred pond devoted to the Goddess of Fortune on its island, can be seen at once. This pond garden attracts a great deal of attention form tourists particularly in autumn for its lovely maples and other deciduous trees.
- The path around the garden then takes you to a highly secluded place covered with dark green moss nestled in the shades of huge trees.
- The water basin facing the Ro-mon gate sets the beginning of a path, which turns left to take you through the Onari-mon gate to the temple courtyard, Tosho-gu.
- To slow down the pace of the walker down the hill to another, a more roughly paved series steps follows the smoother path round the pond. These steps will lead you to a smaller temple Kaisan-do within the Konchi-in complex.
- As you cross over a small stream, the main sanctuary of the temple comes in front of you.
- The abbot’s chamber of the Konchi-in was shifted to its present location from Fushimi Castle. The specially designed sliding doors inside the abbot’s chamber are decorated with spectacular paintings of Kano Tanyo and other renowned artists of Japan.
- An interesting feature of the temple’s dry stone garden is its crane and tortoise shaped decorations created by Kobori Enshu.
Kare-sansui or the dry landscape garden of Konchi-in with the planting at its distant end constitutes a shoreline and the gravel scattered in between represents a vast ocean. The tsurukame placed between flat stones stands for wisdom and longevity.
- The stone made decorations in the garden are hard enough yielding a sense of solidity.

How to Reach

You can avail the subway Tozai Line and get off at Keage. 5 minute walk form the station will take you to the Konchi-in temple in Kyoto.
Alternatively you can take the bus route to "Eikando-mae". The temple is 10 minutes walk from the bus stop.

The temple remains open 8:30am to 5:00 pm.
However the admission for the temple varies.
For general: 400 Yen
For high school students: 400 Yen
For junior high school students and under: 200 Yen

If you are on a trip to Nanzen-ji Temple in Kyoto, don’t miss the landscape-style Japanese garden in Konchi-in.

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