Moss Temple

When Ben and Claire were here last week we went to Saihoji, or the Moss Temple. The whole area is shaded, allowing moss to grow all over the ground and up many of the trees. This used to be a popular site to visit until about 30 years ago when the monks running the temple closed it to all visitors. Apparently the exhaust from buses coming to the site was starting to damage the garden. It was completely off limits for a few years after that before re-opening for people who had reservations. At 3000 yen per person to enter, it is at least 5 times more expensive than any other temple I've been to in Kyoto.

Before you can enter the garden you have to write some sutras in Japanese. They have paper with an outline of the script on little desks next to an ink stone that you grind in water to make ink. You then use a little brush to trace over the letters. Traditional Japanese text goes from up to down, right to left, so you can't hold a brush like a pen (unless you're left handed). You're supposed to hold the brush higher up in what feels very awkward for someone who has no experience writing Japanese.

Being foreigners, a monk came over and asked if we understood what to do. Later he said we didn't need to finish and could go whenever we were tired. Appreciating this kind monk's gesture to let us opt out of a long and pointless ceremony, I started to get up from my uncomfortable sitting position to enter the site I had paid so much to see. Others in the party objected, choosing instead to finish tracing a script they could not read for a reason they did not comprehend. Afterwards we entered the temple: