Daitokuji

Last Sunday, we visited Daitokuji, one of the head temples of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism. It's also an important temple to the Japanese Tea Ceremony and masters such as Rikyu practiced here.

Today, visiting Daitokuji is like strolling around the set of a samurai movie. The complex is huge (several square blocks in northern Kyoto) and comprises over twenty subtemples on its extensive grounds. It's an enclosed compound, however, so there's very little traffic (and a surprising scarcity of visitors on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

It's an amazing place--cobblestone streets lined with gates, temples, and a bamboo forest. It was quite peaceful (when the baby wasn't fussing before he gave up and took a nap!).

Some of the temples are open to the public. We visited Koutou-in which has a tea garden and large tea house on the edge of the bamboo forest. Little J slept through part of it, and the other visitors got to enjoy a crying baby in the tea garden when he woke up. However, as we rested on the wide veranda and contemplated the moss garden, he seemed to zone out. It's a baby Zen thing.