Omi Kohoan is the family temple of Kobori Enshu (1579-1647), one of the three most well-known tea masters in Japan, along with Sen no Rikyu and Furuta Oribe. This is a temple of the Daitoku-ji branch of the Rinzai sect, founded by the second feudal lord Kobori Sokei (Masayuki) in the early Edo period by inviting the Zen monk Enkei from Daitoku-ji temple in Kyoto. The temple was named Omi Kohoan, after Kohoan built by Enshu within Daitoku-ji Temple in Kyoto.

After the Meiji Restoration, the temple was not inhabited for a long time, but it was rebuilt in 1965. There is a rock garden on the south side of the main hall and a Chisen-kaiyushiki style garden (a style of Japanese garden with a path around a central pond and spring) on the east side. It has been designated as a Shiga Prefectural Place of Scenic Beauty.

According to the owner Kobori Yasumichi, the garden had been neglected for a long time, and its original appearance had become hidden, but it has been restored little by little as if trying to peel off a thin skin. It is not certain whether the garden was designed by Kobori Enshu or not. Yet what is certain is that the layout of the pond and the stones, which are said to represent Lake Biwa, and how the trees and the distant, middle and near views are seen, hold the style of Enshu himself.

At the time we visited, the Chinese bellflower was in full bloom. The pure, lovely looking flowers felt so fleeting, and the evening dusk soaked them in. I imagined how these garden flowers comforted the hearts of ancient people.

As we were leaving, I saw a faint glow on a stepping stone. Looking up, there was an oval moon, around three days short of the full moon floating in the sky. It was an out-of-this-world scene.

Photos by Nik van der Giesen