Around the same time Ishikawa Jozan lost his status as a Tokugawa samurai in 1615, his affiliation with Myoshinji Temple in Kyoto began. Comparing the accounts offered by J. Thomas Rimer and Yamamoto Shiro, it appears that he sought refuge at Myoshinji and was then placed under house arrest by Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was not until 1616 that he was allowed to begin his studies at Myoshinji.
My favourite Myoshinji garden, Yoko-en, can be found at the Taizo-in sub-temple. Taizo-in is well known today for housing Josestu’s fifteenth century ink painting of a man trying to capture a catfish in a gourd, its calligraphy (shuji) classes for tourists, and its gardens. It’s the type of place that is better seen in person than described, so I will only offer this picture.
Designed in the 20th century by Nakane Kinsaku, Ishikawa never would have seen it, but I used it as the setting for a key chapter in The Samurai Poet anyway. Sometimes historical accuracy must bow to aesthetic concerns.
Ishikawa soon tired of life in a Zen temple, leaving Myoshinji to study Neo-Confucianism with Fujiwara Seika in 1617. Fujiwara died in 1619, but Ishikawa continued his study of Chinese poetry and philosophy in Kyoto, only leaving in 1623 to accept a teaching position in Hiroshima, the next stop in this series.
For more practical tourist advice about Myoshinji, please see my previous blog post that contains some useful links to external sites.
Travis Belrose is the author of The Samurai Poet, a work of historical fiction based on the life of Ishikawa Jozan. Learn more here.
My favourite Myoshinji garden, Yoko-en, can be found at the Taizo-in sub-temple. Taizo-in is well known today for housing Josestu’s fifteenth century ink painting of a man trying to capture a catfish in a gourd, its calligraphy (shuji) classes for tourists, and its gardens. It’s the type of place that is better seen in person than described, so I will only offer this picture.
Designed in the 20th century by Nakane Kinsaku, Ishikawa never would have seen it, but I used it as the setting for a key chapter in The Samurai Poet anyway. Sometimes historical accuracy must bow to aesthetic concerns.
Ishikawa soon tired of life in a Zen temple, leaving Myoshinji to study Neo-Confucianism with Fujiwara Seika in 1617. Fujiwara died in 1619, but Ishikawa continued his study of Chinese poetry and philosophy in Kyoto, only leaving in 1623 to accept a teaching position in Hiroshima, the next stop in this series.
For more practical tourist advice about Myoshinji, please see my previous blog post that contains some useful links to external sites.
Travis Belrose is the author of The Samurai Poet, a work of historical fiction based on the life of Ishikawa Jozan. Learn more here.
That is a beautiful looking garden.
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