Artworks

Rock garden, Ryōanji

Artwork · Anonymous · c. 1500 · garden · Ryōan-ji Temple

The most famous karesansui. The temple was founded in 1450 by Hosokawa Katsumoto, one of the instigators of the Ōnin War, and rebuilt by 1488 by his son Masamoto; the garden, 23 by 9 metres, existed by 1500 at the latest — the present one dates from after a fire of the late eighteenth century. Fifteen rocks set in raked pebbles: a seascape, or a tigress leading her cubs across a river. Traditionally credited to Sōami without evidence; two kawaramono, Kotarō and Seijirō, inscribed their names on a stone. 1 Mason 2005, pp. 215–216, fig. 250. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.