Rinzai-ji is a Zen temple of the Myoshin-ji group, Rinzai sect, and a family temple for the Imagawas. The garden is believed to have been created when Tokugawa Ieyasu rebuilt the main temple buildings during the Tensho Era. This stroll garden with a central pond consists of three levels by utilizing the slope of Mt. Shizuhata. The temple buildings and the garden are not open to the public except on two days per year, one in spring and another in fall.
cultural property : historic sites and places of scenic beauty as natural monuments
type : places of scenic beauty
7-1 Ōiwachō, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka-shi, Shizuoka-ken 420-0885
Tel：054-245-2740
Rinzai-ji is a guardian temple of Imagawa Ujiteru, a brother of Imagawa Yoshimoto. It is a Zen temple of the Myoshin-ji group of the Rinzai sect, and was founded when Yoshimoto’s senior strategist, Taigen Sessai invited Daikyu Zenji. It is believed that the garden was built when Tokugawa Ieyasu rebuilt the main temple buildings during the Tensho Period. This stroll garden with a central pond consists of three levels by utilizing the slope of Mt. Shizuhata behind the temple.
It is built by using a foothill slope of Mt. Shizuhata, which is used as borrowed scenery, north of the temple building. Water falls from the top of the cliff to recreate a valley and flows into the pond in front of the main study on the east side, which is elevated by one level. Water spilling from the eastern pond creates a waterfall flowing into the western pond.
Garden plantings consist mainly of Japanese red pines (Pinus densiflora), yews (Podocarpus macrophyllus var. maki), Japanese white pines (Pinus parviflora), and sago palms (Cycas revoluta). Between the main trees, Selaginella tarariscina plants are found in clusters, in addition to low-height dwarf azaleas (Rhododendron indicum). The temple buildings and the garden are not open to the public except on two days a year, one in spring and another in fall.