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Rakusuien, a Shinto garden that conveys the atmosphere of the Heian dynasty

When the capital was moved to Heian, it was established as a shrine to the south of the capital to protect the capital and the country. The shrine is said to have the power to ward off directional misfortune, and is constantly visited by worshippers from all over the country who come to pray for construction work, moving, travel, traffic safety, and more. In the late Heian period, Emperor Shirakawa built a magnificent villa in Toba, a place that was a transportation hub and had beautiful waterside scenery, and began his cloistered government, making it a political and cultural center. It is also the setting for the Tale of the Heike. Within the temple grounds, the sacred Rakusuien Garden, made up of five zones, surrounds the main hall and offers a variety of scenery throughout the four seasons. The five zones are the Spring Mountain zone, which is said to be an artificial hill from the time when the property was an Imperial Villa, with weeping plum blossoms appearing in the early spring; the Heian Garden zone with a pond and a rustic atmosphere, where a kyokusui-no-utage (“winding stream party”)—a reproduction of a Heian-period poetry party—is held; the Muromachi Garden zone, where you can see carp swimming in the water; the spacious Momoyama Garden zone featuring powerful large rocks; and the Jonan Imperial Villa Garden zone, which represents what the topography and palaces of the Imperial Villa looked like in a dry landscape garden style. Additionally, the Suisekitei Gallery within the garden occasionally hosts special exhibitions themed on Jonan-gu Shrine and the Toba-Fushimi area.