Kenninji Temple Guide
An ambient sound and artistic night illumination event to enjoy sound of silence, shadow of light at Kenninji, Kyoto’s oldest Zen temple. Enjoy the coolness of summer and experience Zen mindfulness.
Zen walking through the corridor while listening to Neuro Music that is scientifically proven to sooth your brain. A large-scale sea of clouds appears at Daioen, one of Japan’s leading dry landscape gardens, giving you the feeling of the cool summer breeze, and there is projection art on the huge Souryuzu, which symbolizes Kenninji Temple.
Kenninji
This is the head temple of the Kenninji school of the Rinzai sect of Buddhism. It was founded by Zen master Eisai and Minamoto no Yoriie. It was founded in 1202 (the second year of Kennin) during the Kamakura period, and the temple was named after the era name at that time. The mountain name is Tozan. The various halls were built in imitation of Mount Baizhang in China.
At the time of its founding, it was a place of study for the three sects of Tendai, Esoteric Buddhism, and Zen, but from the time of the 11th abbot, Rankei Doryu, it became a training center for pure Rinzai Zen. After 800 years, it remains a Zen training center that is a spiritual anchor for many people.
Sound Corridor “Neuro Music”
Neuro music, scientifically proven music that soothes the brain, developed by Neuro tech startup VIE, is placed throughout the venue. Walking through the corridors and admiring the art installations while listening to music will lead you to a mindful state.
1: Entrance
Tai-Chi Omura（Composition）
At the entrance to Kenninji Temple, you can see a calligraphy piece by Zen Master Eisai, the temple's founder.
"What a great heart" - the human heart is inherently free and generous - this is a place where this teaching has lived on for over 800 years.
Enjoy a nighttime visit to Kenninji Temple, where you can reexamine your own heart.
2: ○△□Garden
Licaxxx（Composition）
A square garden fronted by the prisets living quarters, abbot’s quarters and reception room.
Its design is based on the famous ○△□ calligraphic work by Sengai Gibon in Edo era. Sengai was abbot of Shofukuji temple, Japan’s oldest Zen temple founded by Eisai Zenji who also founded Kenninji. The idea behind the “Circle, Traiangle, Square” is that all things in this universe are represented by these forms.
The circle represents the water, the trianle represents the fire, the square represents the earth,
These three shapes also the elements of the Chinese charactor “命（Life）”.
Find the circle, triangle, square shapes in the garden and think about the fundamental of the life.
This garden's neuromusic is a song created by Licaxxx as a special collaboration.
Profile
Licaxxx
DJ, beatmaker, editor, and radio personality based in Tokyo. He started DJing in 2010. Based on machine techno and house, he manipulates the tension influenced by youth culture and boldly brings the floor together.
The video of his appearance at Boiler Room Tokyo in 2016 has been viewed more than 600,000 times, and he has appeared at many large music festivals in Japan such as Fuji Rock and leading European club events such as CIRCOLOCO＠DC10. In Japan, he has supported and performed with Peggy Gou, Randomer, Mall Grab, DJ HAUS, Anthony Naples, Max Greaf, Lapalux, and others who have come to Japan. He also provides mixes for local radio stations such as NTS Radio and Rince France, and is active in a wide range of fields.
He also runs the video stream radio program "Tokyo Community Radio" inspired by Gilles Peterson. Focusing on young talent, in addition to regular broadcasts of local Japanese DJs, he aims to be a place for interaction with local DJs from all over the world who visit Tokyo.
He has also produced a number of ambient-based music for fashion shows, and in recent years his music has been used as music producer for the W League, and in the collections of yoshiokubo and Chika Kisada.
3: Kojoin
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Junsaku Koizumi's birth, his works are on display. For details, please see the board at the venue.
4: Choontei
Kenta Tanaka（Composition / Guitar / Modular Synthesizer）
A Triple Garden Choontei, located in the courtyard of the main temple of Kenninji, is a simple Zen garden with four sides in front, with a Sanzon Stone in the center, a Zazen stone to the east, and maple leaves all around.
The stones and trees are arranged in a whirlpool shape so that the garden looks frontal from any angle, and by looking around the garden, you can find the front that looks most beautiful to you depending on your state of mind.
The compassionate heart that people have traditionally had, the "Buddha's heart," is something that we tend to lose sight of in our daily lives.
The garden is designed to help you face your own heart while browsing, and by thinking it is beautiful, you can regain the "heartbeat" that cherishes nature and other people.
5: Oojoin “Lotus Pond - Junsaku Koizumi”
In 2010, he completed 40 paintings on the sliding doors of the main temple of Todai-ji Temple in Nara as a commemorative project for the 1,250th anniversary of the death of Empress Komyo. Sixteen of his dazzlingly painted "Lotus Pond" paintings are on display.
6: Karakonoma “Weeping Cherry Blossom”
In 2010, he completed 40 paintings on the sliding doors of the main temple of Todai-ji Temple in Nara as a commemorative project for the 1,250th anniversary of the death of Empress Komyo. Four of the vibrantly colored "Weeping Cherry Blossoms" are on display.
7: Cloud Drogon - Kaihoku Yusho (JR Special Seats)
Keigo Tanaka （Composition / Synthesizer）
Akira∞Ikeda（Didgeridoo ）
Setsuo Miyashita （Santoor）
Yuka Matsuyama （Crystal Bowl）
"Cloud Dragon Painting" (Important Cultural Property), a sliding door painting by Kaihoku Yusho during the Momoyama period. Originally painted on the sliding doors of the Rei-no-Ma room in the southeast of the Hojo, the painting has now been mounted in eight different scrolls.
For this event, the painting will be available to the public as special viewing seats only for those who have purchased tickets through JR.
8: Houjo Vesibule - Daiouen Sokai
Keigo Tanaka （Composition / Synthesizer）
Kenta Tanaka（Modular Synthesizer）
Arico （Piano）
gumi （Bansuri）
The main building of Kenninji, Houjo was rebuilt in 1599 by Ekei, who moved it from Ankoku-ji Temple in Aki, and the copper roof was restored to its original shingle roof to mark the 800th anniversary of the founder, Zen Master Eisai. The principal image is the eleven-headed Kannon Bodhisattva, donated by Tofukumon-in.
The original construction date of the dry landscape garden "Daiouen" in front of the abbot's chamber is unknown, but the current garden was designed by Kato Kumakichi in the early Showa period. Kenninji Temple is said to have been modeled after the Zen temple of Mount Baizhang in China, and the garden was also designed to imitate the scenery of Mount Baizhang.
As its name suggests, this majestic dry landscape garden features stones and large pine trees arranged in a field of white sand that resembles the ocean.
It represents how a single drop of water begins in the mountains, gathering together to form a stream, which eventually becomes a large river and the majestic ocean, and it is said to also represent how the small aspirations of a person's life eventually become large waves as various encounters (good fortune) pile up.
For this event, a 30-meter sea of clouds will be projected onto Daiouen Garden, allowing you to enjoy projection art.
Enjoy the majestic view beyond the sea of clouds from the veranda while feeling the coolness of Kyoto's hot summer, and feel the profound auspiciousness of human beings from the veranda.
9: Hatto - "Paired Dragons - Dragon Rain"
Tai-Chi Omura（Composition）
Keigo Tanaka （Field Recording）
Kenta Tanaka（Guitar / Modular Synthesizer）
Paired Dragons - Junsaku Koizumi
In Koizumi Junsaku's ceiling painting "Paired Dragons," two dragons with their mouths facing A-un are painted across the entire ceiling of the Hatto The A-shaped dragon holds a jewel in its hands and is often painted in Zen lecture halls as a protector of Buddhism and as a god of water that brings rain of Buddhist teachings (Dharma rain).
Kenninji's Hatto has long been made of plain wood without any dragons painted on it, but after one year and ten months, it was completed by artist Koizumi Junsaku in April 2002 to commemorate the 800th anniversary of Kenninji's founding.
Junsaku Koizumi (1924-2012)
Born in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture in 1924. He dropped out of Keio University's Faculty of Letters and enrolled in the Japanese Painting Department of Tokyo University of the Arts, where he studied under Yamamoto Kyujin. In addition to painting, he also worked on design and ceramics. His work "Oku-Izu Landscape" won an award for excellence at the 4th Yamatane Museum of Art Award Exhibition. He began painting ink on the ceiling of the Hatto of Kenchoji Temple in Kamakura in 1997 (completed in April 2000). He also began work on the ceiling painting "Paired Dragons" in the Hatto as part of the 800th anniversary celebrations of the temple, which he dedicated in April 2002. He died of pneumonia in January 2012 at a hospital in Yokohama at the age of 87.
Dragon Rain - Akira Wakita
In Zen temples, dragons are guardian deities and are said to bring rain of Buddhist teachings to monks. In this work, we will challenge ourselves to depict a "dragon that brings rain of Buddhist teachings" unique to the modern era by making full use of nonlinear physical systems, digital imaging technology, and sound based on neuroscience. This work, "Dragon Rain," will be installed as a pair with Junsaku Koizumi's "Paired Dragons," painted on the ceiling of the Hatto of Kenninji Temple.
The other challenge is to explore the modern form of "copying" in Japanese painting, and to present a form of inheritance unique to the 2020s of ancient Japanese aesthetic sense such as "layering," "copying," and "tracing." What does it mean to paint Junsaku Koizumi's "Paired Dragons" in Akira Wakita's own way? After delving into this, we came to the conclusion that it was not simply a matter of processing a digital scan of Koizumi's painting, but rather a matter of depicting the phenomenon and principles behind the act of looking at a dragon, the presence that the place gives off, and so on. As a homage to Koizumi's technique, I projected white particles onto the pitch-black floor of the lecture hall, layering them over and over again, aiming to create a color, shape, and movement with depth and breadth that is neither simple white nor simple grain.
Finally, the phenomenon of a nonlinear dynamic system creating a dragon is very intriguing, and it may be possible to see a cross-sectional dialogue between science, art, and religion here. The transition from "nothing to something, and from something to nothing" produced by a simple system resonates with the world of Zen, where everything is one and one is everything.
Profile:
Akira Wakita
questionnaire
※The first 500 people who answer on-site will receive an original hand towel as a gift.