Japan Travel: Shorenin temple beautiful garden with giant camphor tree, Kyoto

Shorenin is a temple of the Tendai sect of Japanese Buddhism standing at the base of Kyoto’s Higashiyama mountains. It is one of the city’s monzeki temples, which are the temples whose head priests originally belonged to the imperial family. Taking a winding route, visitors find themselves in Shorenin’s various temple buildings and gardens.

Shorenin’s close relationship with the Japanese imperial family started with the temple’s founding in the 12th century. The Emperor Toba was a follower of the Tendai sect, whose head temple is Enryakuji Temple in the mountains of northeastern Kyoto. The emperor’s son studied under Enryakuji’s head priest, and built Shorenin as a residence for the two of them in the city. In the course of time, the residence was converted into a genuine temple. An interesting turn of fate made Shorenin once again serve as a residence during the 18th century when a fire forced an empress to use the temple as her temporary home.

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