Walk in Kennin-ji Temple – Kyoto, Japan

Walk in Kennin-ji Temple – Kyoto, Japan

Kennin-ji (建仁寺) is a historic Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan, and head temple of its associated branch of Rinzai Buddhism. It is considered to be one of the so-called Kyoto Gozan or “five most important Zen temples of Kyoto”.

Kennin-ji was founded in 1202 CE and claims to be the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto.

The monk Eisai, credited with introducing Zen to Japan, served as Kennin-ji’s founding abbot and is buried on the temple grounds.

For its first years the temple combined Zen, Tendai, and Shingon practices, but it became a purely Zen institution under the eleventh abbot, Lanxi Daolong (蘭渓道隆, Rankei Dōryū) (1213–1278).

The Zen master Dōgen, later founder of the Japanese Sōtō sect, trained at Kennin-ji. It is one of the Rinzai sect’s headquarter temples.

Video Source: 京都・東山【建仁寺⚡国宝~風神雷神図の臨済宗寺】Kenninji temple~Kyoto Japan from 京都旅行〔Kyoto trip〕花と水と木 on Youtube ⁄ CC BY