Togeppo Saioku-ji, the scenic spot which founded by Socho

There is a nice place I like in Shizuoka prefecture.
This is Saioku-ji, a very small temple of Rinzai sect.
The temple is located in Mariko, Shizuoka city.

At first, a famous renga (linked poem) poet and teacher Socho (1448-1532) built Saiokuken, a thatched hut here.
Later Imagawa Ujichika, daimyo of Suruga (a middle part of current Shizuoka prefecture) rebuilt the thatched hut Saiokuken as the temple Saioku-ji.

He had served to Imagawa Yoshitada, Ujichika's father, in his young times.
Then after the death of Yoshitada, he left Imagawa family in a short time and went to Kyoto.
He learned renga poetry from Soughi, also a famous renga poet and teacher at the Muromachi period.
Also he have learned Zen Buddhism from Zen monk Ikkyu while he stayed in Kyoto.

Later he returned to Imagawa family and served to Ujichika.
As a poet teacher, Socho mingled with court nobles,  daimyo and powerful warlords in all over Japan.
He loved culture of Kyoto and built Saiokuken in imitation of Ginkaku-ji temple in Kyoto.
In particular, he brought bamboos from Kyoto to around the thatced hut and made a beautiful bamboo glove with them there.
Beside that, he made a borrowing landscapes garden in front of Saiokuken.

Togeppo means "the mountain peak which produces the moon".
Today, normally we can't stay inside the temple at night so we don't see the moon, but we can see the nice view of Marikofuji mountain through the garden and the bamboo globe.

When I visited to the temple, I felt like I was in the bamboo globe in Kyoto.
Also the atmosphere around Saioku-ji is quiet and nice.
Surely you can enjoy there.