Ryoan-ji

Ryoan-ji is a temple of the Myoshin-ji branch of Rinzai Zen, founded in 1450 by the warlord Hosokawa Katsumoto on the site of an earlier aristocratic estate. It was destroyed during the Onin War and later rebuilt, and today it is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto World Heritage Site. Its fame rests on a single rectangle of gravel and stones, the most celebrated karesansui, or dry landscape garden, in the country.

The rock garden lies in front of the abbot's quarters and measures about 25 metres by 10. Fifteen stones in five groups sit in white gravel that is raked in lines every day, edged by moss and enclosed by a low clay wall. One much discussed feature is that from any point on the veranda at least one of the stones is always hidden. Who designed it, and when, is uncertain: it has been credited to Katsumoto, his son, the painter-monk Soami and later builders, and the names of stoneworkers carved on two rocks suggest that skilled labourers played a part. The temple offers no single interpretation, and visitors are left to draw their own.

Beyond the abbot's quarters, look for the stone water basin known as the tsukubai, whose characters combine with its square central hole to be read as 'I know only satisfaction'. The basin you see is a replica; it sits low so that users must bow to it. The rest of the grounds are a large strolling garden around Kyoyochi Pond, which dates back to the twelfth-century estate and is especially pretty in spring and autumn.

The garden rewards a slow pace. Sit on the wooden veranda and give it time; mornings soon after opening are the quietest, as the space fills quickly with tour groups later in the day. Shoes are removed to enter the hojo. Allow around an hour for the rock garden and pond walk. Opening hours change between the warmer and cooler months, so check before visiting.

Ryoan-ji is on Kinukake-no-michi, the road that links three World Heritage temples in the north-west of the city: Kinkaku-ji lies about twenty minutes' walk to the east and Ninna-ji a short walk to the west. City buses stop outside, and Ryoanji Station on the Randen Kitano Line is around ten minutes away on foot.