Tenju-an's East Garden (東庭/aka Enmoku-tei 淵黙庭) is a dry landscape garden featuring paving stones crossing a stretch of raked gravel.
Many of these stones belonged to the original temple (more were added in 1610). The garden also features pine trees, camellia and maple.
In 1904 the monk Kozan Kyōshushi (虎山恭宗師) made considerable changes to the gardens, and it is his vision that we see at Tenju-an today.
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Destroyed by a fire in 1393 and during the Ōnin War in 1447 (応仁文明の乱 1467-77), the temple was all but abandoned for many years.
150 years after the devastation of the Ōnin War the 226th head of Nanzen-ji, Genpo Reisan (玄圃霊三 1535-1608), helped revive the temple with Hosokawa Yūsai (細川幽斎 1534-1610).
Genpo’s disciple Ungaku Reikei (雲岳霊圭) became head. The current buildings date to this time.
The 15th abbot of Nanzen-ji, Kokan Shiren (虎関師錬), in 1336 founded Tenju-an (天授庵) to celebrate the temple's 45th anniversary.
Tenju-an was constructed as a Kaisan-tō (開山塔), a religious site honouring the founder of a temple (in this case Mukan Fumon 大明国師).
Tenju-an was named after the Tenju era (天授) in which it was founded. At this time Kokan Shiren (虎関師錬) also landscaped the temple's garden.
The temple stands on land that first belonged to Saishō-in (最勝院), a hermitage built by Dōchi (道智 1217-69), son of regent Kujō Michiie (九条道家).
Abdicating in 1274, Emperor Kameyama (亀山上皇) took over the grounds to make his sprawling 'Zenrinji-dono' villa (禅林寺殿).
The emperor's villa was plagued by a series of hauntings, with members of the household seeing specters walking the hallways (some believed it was the ghost of Dōchi).
🍁🍂AN AUTUMN GEM😊🍁
I wish I had
my companion to nag...
autumn dusk
小言いふ相手のほしや秋の暮
-Issa, 1823.
Half-forgotten for most of the year, Tenju-an (天授庵), like many of Nanzen-ji's small sub-temples, bursts into life during late autumn.
