An artificial river in old temple in Kyoto, Nanzen-ji temple

Hi, hi :) I wrote the article about Nanzen-ji temple in Kyoto before. And it was halfway. I'm not a liar. I should write the rest of it.

I wrote "What is this?" about the photo above in that article. Yeah, it's a difficult question. It looks like a tunnel or the series of gateways. 

The answer is that! It's a bridge in fact. You may think "Why is a bridge in a temple?". Well, it's a little bit strange, but has a reason.

On the bridge there's a water way for an artificial river from another prefecture, Shiga(滋賀), which is next to Kyoto. When a civil engineer, Sakuro Tanabe was directed to set up an artificial river connected to Biwa-ko lake(琵琶湖, びわこ) in Shiga prefecture. He chose the best course. On the way from Biwa late to Kamo river(鴨川), there was a very famous temple. Yes, that is Nanzen-ji temple. That's why this temple has a very big water bridge. Sakuro Tanabe is not very famous. You may not find good amount of information of his works on the internet in English or books. But, I'm sure he was a genius. Watch the photo below.

 Passing under the bridge, going up stairs, you will get to the gate way of the temple's building. They are completely harmonious. I love it! Those kind of harmony is a very important part of civil engineering, right?

Nanzen-ji temple was build about 800 years ago, and the water bridge was set up about 100 year s ago. Both are old. You see another harmony, which is belonging to the streaming of time passage. .

---

The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net