Genko-an: Escaping The Mundane
I admit, as a tourist escaping the mundanity of my own life, I am looking for aesthetic highs when I travel. Kyoto with its numerous temples and gardens, all crafted to perfection, cannot be bettered for this, especially during the spring sakura and autumn koyo seasons. This is why I am willing to spend more than an hour to travel to Genko-an. Established in 1346 as a retirement hermitage for the Chief Abbot of Daitoku-ji, Tetto Giko (also know as Tetsuo Kokushi), and substantially renovated in 1694 when it was revived after a period of neglect, the temple is modest but impressive. A side building looks out upon a lovely garden, which in autumn is aflame with red maples. To the left is an elongated main hall, the hondo, where several objects of Buddhist veneration are enshrined together with memorials to a loyal subject of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Torii Mototada. He and his followers sacrificed themselves defending Fushimi Castle to buy Tokugawa time to rally successfully against his rivals. Genko-an was rebuilt with wooden floorboards stained with the blood of Mototada and his men, and to this day you can see bloody hand and footprints on the ceiling of the temple. This is a gruesome side note though to the temple’s main attraction: two large windows that frame eye-catching views of the temple’s gardens.
