retirement homes

day 49

around daitoku-ji in kyoto is a campus of zen temples. one of the most striking is koto-in, which was established in 1601 by the famed military leader hosokawa tadaoki. tadaoki was one of the greatest warriors of his time, and one of the few to survive the bloody wars which culminated in the establishment of the tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), which would rule a unified japan from the capital edo (tokyo), definining the edo period. his battle days started at age 15, and as a samurai he took part in korean wars and many domestic sieges and political reprisals. he was a man of great principal and astute policy - when his wife's family chose a different political allegiance and asked for his help, he refused aid and sent his wife back to them (after their defeat, he was urged to take his wife back by the victor, and did so, neatly avoiding a difficult association with his wife's family). his deft political moneouvering, and unrivalled martial skill led to rewards of vast domains, and, being a man of great intellect and taste, devoted his later life to zen study, tea ceremony, and incense sniffing.








i can only wonder at the inner strength that would have been required to sit peacefully sipping tea in the gardens of this villa for the many years following his violent battling and political wrangling.






tadaoki lived to the ripe age of 82, and his remains are on the temple grounds near a lantern he admired greatly.











kinkaku-ji, or golden pavilion, is in fact covered in gold. it's another retirement villa (est.1397), this time for shogun ashikaga yoshimitsu. his son converted it into a zen temple (and his grandson is the builder of the silver pavilion, which was intended to be covered in silver, but never has been). you will not be surprised to hear that it burned down several times during the onin war, and most recently, set ablaze by a mentally disturbed monk in 1950. the present structure dates from 1955, was newly coated in 1987, and reroofed in 2003.











ant on roof.