Study on a Waterless Garden or Kare-Sansui (I)
On the Authorship of ‘Karesansui’ Gardn at Koin-zan, Saiho-ji, Kyoto
1959 Volume 23 Issue 4 Pages 1-4
Details
1959 Volume 23 Issue 4 Pages 1-4
The design of stones in the Karesansui garden at Koin-zan, Saiho-ji, Kyoto, has been attributed to the hand of the master priest, Muso-kokushi.
However, when it is compared with another garden at Tenryu-ii, which is also attributed to the work of Muso-kokushi, there are observed marked differences in workmanship and others. Moreover, literature such as ‘Saiho-ji Engi’ or the historical origin of Saiho-ji temple has no reference to this at all. Another piece of gardening literature composed in the Yedo era, Chiku-zan teizoden (Essay on garden and hill designing), ascribes this to the authorship of Ryuden-jizo. Thes evidences lend support to a supposition that this part of the said garden may have been constructed by some other hand than Muso-kokushi. The writer is inclined to believe that the stone design at Saiho-ji temple was not constructed by Muso-kokushi, but by some one else, possibly a gardener in the Yedo era.
