Sosui at Nanzen-Ji
Sometimes in Japan you run into things that you are least expecting. Such was the case when I stumbled upon this Roman looking water canal (疏水) on the grounds of a more than 700 year old Buddhist Temple. The water comes from Otsu City, passes by Nanzen-ji Temple, and eventually makes it into Kyoto. It was built more than a hundred years ago.
Nanzenji (南禅寺) is located on the southern end of the Path of Philosophy.
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:09 pm
I lived in Kyoto during my university days. That is because I saw this structure & scene when going on a school trip of my high-school. At the time, I was more interested in Japanese modern age than the mid-age.
Your site has a picture of Mt.Hidari-Daimonji near Kinkakuji, doesn’t it? When viewing it, I remembered things when hiking Mt.Daimonji(near Ginkakuji) with my friends. We got a wonderful landscape view from there.
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:07 pm
It does. Right here: http://traveljapanblog.com/wordpress/2008/11/daimonji-大文字/
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Ah, about four years ago I’ve also been there and I’ve been quite surprised to see this water canal there, even though I read about it before. I didn’t imagine that it would look like this.
*sigh* Oh, how I miss Kyoto!
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:11 pm
A Japanese aqueduct! Fascinating. It seems to run through some beautiful areas too.
February 3rd, 2011 at 9:19 am
Nanzen-ji is one of my favorites in Kyoto (how can one choose?) precisely because of this juxtaposition.