Shisendo in Kyoto

Shisendo (House of the Great Poets) was built in 1640, as a mountain retreat by Ishikawa Jozan, an eccentric poet cum calligrapher of the early Edo era. It was constructed in the humble style of a thatched hut.
The building and its adjacent garden served as the poet’s refuge for studying philosophy, tea and garden design when the Tokugawas expelled him from Edo.

The garden has undergone changes in design from time to time. Now the mountain villa with its dry garden full of white sand, dwarf azalea, a large camellia tree, a shishi-odoshi, maples and a bamboo forest bordering the entrance constitute one of the most private and graceful sites that can be found in Kyoto, Japan. The garden displays a usual arrangement with dry gravel in the foreground, clipped karikomi azaleas in the middle ground and a verdant hillside at the back.

Reading rooms, living room, a kitchen and a small tower built for watching moon comprise the poet’s mountain villa. Spectacular portraits of 36 famous poems of the Edo era adorn the main entrance hall of Shisendo.
Now the building with its garden is considered as a temple dedicated to the memory of the early Edo scholar, Ishikawa Jozan.

Shisendo, the beautiful small temple located in the northern part of the Higashi-yama mountains in Japan, is a popular tourist destination in Kyoto for its historical importance, Japanese azalea ("tsutsuji") garden and its serenity. The temple is now dedicated to the Soto sect of Zen Buddhism.
The interior of the temple with rough worn wooden beams and posts, black and hollow roof tiles, dusky light leaking through edges of the wooden screens takes you to a world of tranquility.

How to Reach

Shisendo is situated around 2 km north of the Ginkakuji. The railway station closest to the temple is Itchijoji on the Eizan main line. From the station, 1km walk eastward towards the hill will take you to this elegant temple in Japan.

The address of the temple is given below:

27, Ichijoji-Monguchi-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto

The temple remains open on all days from 9am-5pm.
The admission fee for this temple is 500 yen.

If you are on a trip to Kyoto, you cannot afford to miss this small beautiful temple of Kyoto city.

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