龍安寺のお守り A Charm from Ryoanji

Ryoanji is home to the most famous rock garden in the world. Viewed from a deck, one can only see fourteen of the fifteen boulders in the rock garden at a time, and it was believed that only a person that had achieved enlightenment could see the fifteenth. The garden is made of gravel, sand, and mossy rocks. Some people believe the rocks are meant to symbolize islands in the ocean, others a tiger and her cubs.

Because Ryoanji is so famous for the rock garden, I had no choice really. I had to choose the charm that best characterized the location. Most shrines and temples have charms that are fairly generic, Ryoanji included, but I do my best to pick the most unique. Like my Golden Pavilion charm, this one's birthplace is also fairly obvious to the informed observer.

Ryoanji was constructed in the Heian period, and it was believed to be a Fujiwara family estate. Several elaborate estates and palaces of the Fujiwara were handed over from the family to Buddhist sects, and some of these former homes make up some of Japan's most famous temples.