The most famous rock garden is at Ryouanji. Due to its size, and the limited mobility for photgraphers because of the repairing of the roof, it was hard to get a good photograph. The fact that wide angle lenses somehow distort the image in a way that destroys the magic further complicates matters. Furthermore, the garden is an elegant sculpture, apparently each view conceals at least one rock. Since each view is unique, it is hard to present a representative view; this is the best I have.

We can observe some characterists. Imagine how the rocks would shift if you walked to the right or to the left. It is probably easy to see how the view would be substantially different (plus, more rocks will appear, since there are fifteen). The sculptural aspects are superb. Apparently some scientists analyzed the garden and found that there is a mathematical fractal-tree like structure formed by the distances between the rocks; clearly whoever designed this garden was a master.

Note, too, how the rocks contrast nicely with the ground, unlike the shrine at Osaka castle. The rocks are not as unique as the iaiseki, but they are definitely interesting, yet at the same time a lot more representative of rocks in general than the iaiseki is. The rocks are also quite varied in shape, and to some extent, in color. It may be hard to see in this picture, but the ground cover is also moss.