Shisendo Temple

Shisen-do is the former villa site of Ishikawa Jozan, a scholar and man of letters from the early Edo period, located in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City. Its correct name is "Otokutsu" (Otsutsuka), meaning a dwelling with uneven surfaces. Today, it functions as a branch temple of Eihei-ji, the head temple of the Soto Zen sect, and provides services such as perpetual memorial rites. One of Shisen-do’s highlights is the set of portraits of 36 Chinese poets painted by Kano Tan’yu inside Otokutsu. Because the poets’ images are displayed on the surrounding walls, the space is known as the "Room of the Poets." Other rooms and features have elaborately crafted names: the room for attendant youths is called "Yakuenken," the reading room is "Ryogeiso," and the well beside it is "Komyo-sen," yet the buildings themselves are simple and unadorned, filled with the refined taste of Ishikawa Jozan, a man of elegant pursuits. Jozan was also a master garden maker, and the garden he designed is accompanied by the sound of a shishi-odoshi bamboo water feature. Flowers bloom in every season, including deep-red Kirishima azaleas and irises in spring, balloon flowers and kyo-ganoko in summer, Japanese anemones in autumn, and senryo and manryo berries in winter. In 1986, the then Prince Charles of the United Kingdom and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, also visited.