Banda Rock - Kyoto

Entsu-ji Temple, officially known as Daihizan-ji Temple Miyuki Goten Entsu-in Temple, is known for its dry landscape garden, which is famous for its borrowed landscape gardens. On the north side of the capital of Kyoto, in the hills of Hatae in Iwakura, please visit the mountain villa "Hatae Goten (also known as Hatae Rikyu, Hatae Kogosho, Hatae Tea Garden, etc.)" from the pamphlet of Entsuji Temple. It was "Emperor Gomizuo" that was built. Why was Emperor Gomizuo not so far from the center of the city, but I wondered if he chose this inconvenient place to build a mountain cottage, the emperor in a turbulent era when power was transferred to the "Tokugawa Shogunate". Despite its position, it is politically powerless and will be sealed if it has high abilities. Therefore, it may be that he sought the power to connect with the spiritual test of Mt. Hiei, which protects the demon gate of the capital of Kyoto. When you sit in the center of "Hataeda Goten", you can see "Mt. Hiei" on your left, not directly in front of you. From the palace, Mt. Hiei is almost to the east, but it seems that the direction of the building is intentionally changed a little. The garden is a dry landscape garden style composed only of flat "flat garden" stones, and almost the entire surface is covered with moss, but it is unknown whether the moss was applied at the time of construction. In the center of the garden, there is "Bandaishi", which has a different atmosphere from other stones. According to Mirei Shigemori's commentary on "Japanese Garden History Daikei Vol. 15" at Entsuji Temple, "The stone named the board stone in the center of the garden is an exposed natural stone. However, as already mentioned, the design of the entire garden itself is flat and continuous, so it makes me think that it was a stone that was set up at the time of gardening. " It seems to be a natural stone that originally existed in this place. The center of "Hataeda Goten" → "Bandaishi" → "Mt. Hiei" are lined up in a straight line. It can be imagined that the layout of the palace was decided based on this line. Therefore, it is undeniable that all the arrangements were decided based on the "board stone" that was originally in this place. Originally it was a fairly large rock, and it is thought that the Kannon Bodhisattva would appear on the flat part at the top, so it can be thought that it was called "Yogoi" in the sacred place "Mt. Hiei". Examining the "board stone", it seems that the strange rock (Banza) in "Mt. Putuo" and "Umefukuan", the sacred place of the Kannon Bodhisattva in the Funayama archipelago, Zhejiang Province, Republic of China, is derived. There is also a tradition that "Kannon Bodhisattva" appeared on this rock. (April 9, 2017)