Joshokoji Temple

Joshokoji is a Zen temple of the Tenryuji branch of Rinzai. Emperor Kogon, first of the Northern Court, founded it and retreated here after the upheavals of the Nanboku-cho wars swept him up. He is said to have treated the surrounding landscape as his garden, naming the hill behind the temple, the waterfall below it and the whole forest, and selecting ten views from the site — and that scenery survives largely intact today. The Buddha hall holds more than twenty images, among them the Amida, Kannon and Seishi triad designated Important Cultural Properties. In the garden stand famous trees: the Kokonoe cherry, a national natural monument, and a cherry grafted from one at the imperial palace, both at their best around mid-April. The maples in the inner garden are something else again.