Greenery and Zen - Rurikoin Temple

📍Address: 55 Kamitakano Higashiyama, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, Japan 🕰️Opening Hours: Spring opening: April 13 - June 16, no reservation required Summer opening: July 13 - August 18, no reservation required Autumn opening: October 1 - December 10, reservation required Visiting hours: Daily 10 AM - 5 PM (last reception at 4:30 PM) It's recommended to plan visiting 'Rurikoin Temple' and 'Taiyuan Sanzenin' on the same itinerary Walking into the temple leads to the famous 'Lapis Lazuli Garden', a Japanese-style room where you can sit on the floor and enjoy the maple trees in a daze. Visitors crowd around the table, frantically taking photos with their phones and cameras. It's quite crowded, and it would probably be super packed during the maple leaf season. The smooth black long table reflects the green of the maple leaves, creating a dreamlike and incredibly beautiful scene. It looks exaggerated to the naked eye, but the photos taken with a lens indeed leave one speechless with their beauty. On the same second floor, there's also a sutra copying experience area, where the sutras are not too long, and you can take your time writing with a pen provided by Rurikoin. On the first floor, you can see the 'Lapis Lazuli Garden' covered with thick moss, and after making a purchase, you can sit in the paid seating area to enjoy the moss garden. Overall, 'Rurikoin Temple' is considered a more expensive attraction, with an admission fee of 2,000 yen. I used my student ID, so it was half price.