Osawa-no-ike Pond — Attraction in Kyoto

This is more a two-part review. There are two entrances to this location. The entrance that we went through was the temple entrance. Initially, we were only interested in doing the temple, not knowing that the pond region was extra. However, given the cost was not much to include the temple walk, we decided to do both. And glad we made that decision. First off, what attracted us to his temple was being able to see the Japanese dry garden in person. I believe these are called Suna (thank you Wikipedia). The temple itself is very large, and being able to see the Japanese dry garden in person is certainly astonishing. However, what captured our eyes was the magnificent Osawa pond. According to Japan-Guide this was actually a man-made pond that is last surviving (and still incomplete!). As you’ll see the pictures, this place is very peaceful. I can only imagine how extraordinary this place would be during the Fall time when all the leaves change. I would love to come back for that reason.

Overall Kel rating: ★★★★★/5 The good: beautiful. A good mixture of temple and garden. The decent: just fyi for temple portion, need to wear Japanese slippers (they will give you a plastic bag to hold your shoes.) The ugly: just FYI, in order to attend both the temple, and upon, you have to purchase the combination package. It is well worth it...

Abosutly beautiful place and is there aren't many people around so you can enjoy your time...

京都府京都市右京区嵯峨大沢町4にある大覚寺にある池になります。

大覚寺の東に位置し、周囲約1kmの日本最古の人工の林泉(林や泉水などのある庭園)です。

嵯峨天皇が弘仁年間（８１０～８２４）に造営された離宮「嵯峨」の苑池の一部で、現在大覚寺境内に属している唐(中国)の洞庭湖を模して造られたところから、庭湖とも呼ばれる。

当時は最先端の文化の発信地となった。池のほとりには、茶室望雲亭、心経宝塔、石仏、名古曽の滝跡があり、国指定の名勝地になっています。

アクセスは、 嵯峨嵐山駅出口から徒歩約16分 トロッコ嵯峨駅出口から徒歩約16分 嵐電嵯峨駅出...