Ryoanji Temple Burmese Pagoda

Kyoto's Ryoanji Temple has other large gardens as well as its world famous dry stone Zen garden.

As visitors walk from the Zen garden they will see a white Burmese style pagoda on their way to the exit. This pagoda was raised in 1970 by Joei Matsukura, the 58th Chief Priest of Ryoanji who served in a mechanized division in Burma during World War II.

The white pagoda serves as a memorial and cenotaph for soldiers who died in the Burma campaign (1942-1945) and was built with donations from their comrades in arms who managed to return safely to Japan.

There are similar pagodas throughout Japan including one on the summit of Mt. Bizen in Tokushima, Shikoku.

Access - Getting to Ryoanji

Bus #59 from Keihan Sanjo station or Ryoan-ji Station on the Keifuku Kitano Line from Kitano Hakubaicho station.

13 Ryoanji Goryonoshita-cho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto
Tel: 075 463 2216

Details

Mar 1st - Nov 30th : 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Dec 1st - End of Feb : 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Fee

Adults, High School students: 500 yen

Junior High School students and under: 300 yen

Ryukoku Museum Kyoto

The new Ryukoku Museum is directly opposite Nishi Honganji Temple in Kyoto and close to the Omiya campus of Ryukoku University and the famed Higurashi-mon Gate.

The Ryukoku Museum is dedicated to Buddhist art detailing the spread of Buddhist culture and belief from its birthplace in the Ganges valley in India, through South East Asia, China and Korea to Japan. The exterior of the museum features a huge blind made of ceramics.

The Ryukoku Museum has a basement level and three levels above ground in a light and airy building. The second floor concentrates on Buddhism in Asia with the third floor focusing on Buddhism in Japan.

Exhibits include sculptures from the Gandhara period of Buddhist art in what is now present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Otani collection gathered between 1902 and 1914 on three expeditions sent by a chief priest of Nishi-Honganji on the original route of Buddhism from India to Japan and Important Academic Materials held by Ryukoku University.

The Buddhism in Japan section details the development of Shin Buddhism and the history of Honganji and the life of founder, Shinran Shonin.

The Ryukoku Museum also holds special exhibitions and has a museum shop and cafe facing Nishi-Honganji Temple.

Ryukoku Museum
117 Nishinakasujidori Shomen Sagaru
Shimogyo-ku
Kyoto 600-8399
Tel: 075 351 2500
Admission: 500 yen
Hours: 10am-5pm; closed Monday