Tenryu-ji Temple

This is the head temple of all Tenryu-ji School temples of Rinzai Zen. Its “mountain name” is Reigizan, and the main image enshrined is Gautama Buddha. It was registered as a World Cultural Heritage site in 1994.
The temple was established in 1339 by the shogun Ashikaga Takauji in memory of Emperor Go-Daigo, with Muso Soseki as its founding abbot. It was initially known as Ryakuo Shiseizen-ji, but its name was changed to Tenryu Shiseizen-ji after Takauji’s younger brother Tadayoshi had a dream of a golden dragon. Donations, and the income from the Tenryu-ji trading ships, allowed the compound to be laid out. The temple prospered, and in 1386 it was ranked first of the Five Great Mountains (five major Zen temples) of Kyoto. However, numerous fires over the centuries have destroyed the various buildings, and today most structures are reconstructions dating from the Meiji period or later. The strolling pond garden, believed to be laid out by Muso Soseki and the first place in Japan to be registered as both a National Historic Site and a Special Place of Scenic Beauty, is built around the central Sogen Pond, and cleverly incorporates both Arashiyama in the distance and Kameyama in the foreground as “borrowed scenery.” The temple’s treasures include many important cultural properties, such as the Colored Image of the Abbot Muso.
Kyoto City