Name: Zen Garden of Kench?ji
Address: Kamakura
Rating: 5.0000

María Alba

Beautiful zen gardens: a must-see

Excellent

One of the most amazing things that I enjoyed during my visit to Kamakura was in the Temple Kenchoji. It is a Zen garden with a beautiful pond, situated in the rear of the 2 story building called Kuri. The garden was designed by the priest Muso Soseki, one of the high priests of Zen gardens famous for its design like Myoko-chi, and the founder of Zuisenji, another Kamakura temple on its eastern side. It was the 1st Zen garden, but was renovated in the Edo period. They said that the best time to visit is in May when the flowers have bloomed (the flowers Rhododendron lateritium) and iris (Iris nertschinskia).

The garden was remodeled in the year 2003 and no longer has these plants. A shame. Without a doubt a place any traveller can´t miss out on.

Arturo Sánchez Quiñones

Balance

Equilibrio

En la parte más alejada de la puerta del templo Kenchoji de Kamakura se encuentra este jardín zen. Rodeado de un muro, no se ve nada de él hasta que no se está dentro de su recinto. Una vez en el interior, no se puede pasear por él, solamente se puede ver desde la terraza de un edificio que abre sus puertas al jardín. Es un lugar muy tranquilo, y sentarse a contemplar es jardín es realmente relajante. No hay ruido y todo parece colocado para encontrar ese equilibrio y belleza tan japoneses. Entre los elementos que puede o debe tener una jardín zen, están un sendero, plantas, árboles, un estanque,.... Todo ello está aquí, pero no penséis que es uno de esos famosos jardines secos de piedras, este es verde, muy verde. Cuando nosotros lo visitamos el otoño acababa de comenzar y aún no había rastros de ese dorado que seguro que unas semanas más tarde cambiaría el aspecto de este jardín.

In the furthest part of the door of the Kenchoji temple of Kamakura is this Zen garden. Surrounded by a wall, nothing is seen of him until he is inside his enclosure. Once inside, you can not walk through it, you can only see it from the terrace of a building that opens its doors to the garden. It is a very quiet place, and sitting to contemplate this garden is really relaxing. There is no noise and everything seems set to find that balance and beauty so Japanese. Among the elements that can or should have a Zen garden, are a path, plants, trees, a pond, ... All this is here, but do not think it is one of those famous dry stone gardens, this is green, very green. When we visited it, autumn had just begun and there were still no traces of that golden age, which certainly would change the appearance of this garden a few weeks later.