Shinshoji Zen Museum and Gardens

The main gate of the Shinshoji temple was relocated here in 1967 from the former prince’s residence, once situated within the Kyoto Imperial Palace grounds. Passing beneath its massive roof, visitors enter a world of gardens, temple halls, and stone paths that seem to have existed here for centuries.

Yet the temple’s history is surprisingly young. Shinshoji was founded only in 1965, and some of its most renowned structures appeared in the 21st century. Matsudo, with red pines growing directly on its roof, and Kōtei—an unusual space reminiscent of a boat sailing a sea of stones—are vivid examples of how contemporary architecture can exist naturally within a Zen landscape.

Between them stretch gardens created by three generations of the renowned Nakane family of landscape masters. The heart-shaped pond reflects the sky and surrounding hills, while the lines of white sand in the dry garden seem to extend the path toward the distant waters of the Seto Inland Sea.

At Shinshoji, past and present are not set in opposition. Imperial gates, Zen gardens, historic tea spaces, and contemporary architecture coexist here in perfect harmony. In the silence of Fukuyama’s mountain valleys, time seems to lose its boundaries, and each new landscape becomes an invitation to see the world anew.