Shinsen-en Garden

Shinsen-en is located just south of Nijo Castle in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City. It originated in the Heian period as a ‘kin’en’—an imperial garden for the emperor. It was built adjoining the southeastern side of the Heian palace complex, centered on a vast pond garden that once extended roughly from Omiya (east) to Mibu (west) and from Nijo (north) down to Sanjo (south), where emperors held banquets with boats on the water. It later took on religious significance, including rain-invoking rites performed by Kobo Daishi (Kukai), and it also hosted goryoe rites to pacify epidemics—events regarded as part of the origin story of the Gion Festival. From the medieval era it declined, and construction of Nijo Castle greatly reduced the northern portion. Although the grounds were later maintained in the Meiji era, the site shrank from an original area said to have reached about 130,000 m² to about 4,400 m² today. In May, the Shinsen-en Festival is held, venerating Zennyo Ryuo tied to the rainmaking legend. In November, the Shinsen-en Dai Nenbutsu Kyogen—silent, gesture-based morality drama—is performed and is registered as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Kyoto City. Shinsen-en is immediately south of Nijo Castle, about a 2-minute walk from Nijojo-mae Station.