Ryōan-ji
The Zen temple’s rock garden in Kyoto – fifteen stones in raked gravel, made to be contemplated, not entered.
The dry garden, karesansui, was a form for meditation in Zen Buddhism. The garden at Ryōan-ji was probably laid out in the late 15th century, but who made it and what it represents are debated.
The stones are placed so that from the veranda one never sees all fifteen at once. The garden has influenced modernist architects and landscape architects all over the world.
Materials: White gravel, stone, moss, clay wall
Manufacture: The gravel is raked every day in patterns of lines and rings.
Stones in groups on a surface of raked gravel.
No plants except moss around the stones.
Viewed from a veranda; one does not walk into the garden.