The Moss Temple: Permission to Visit Saihou-ji (Kokodera) Granted!/O templo de musgo: Permissão para visitar Saihou-ji (Kokodera) Concedido!

One of the things that Joel was most excited about when we planned our trip here was the prospect of going to Saihou-ji, a temple and UNESCO site that requires advance permission to visit. More commonly known as Kokodera (Japanese for "Moss Temple"), the temple is famous for its garden which (as you might have guessed) has over 120 different types of moss.

From the Wikipedia article:

The famous moss garden of Saihō-ji is situated in the eastern temple grounds. Located in a grove, the garden is arranged as a circular promenade centered around Golden Pond (黄金池 ōgonchi). The pond is shaped like the Chinese character for "heart" or "mind" (心 kokoro) and contains three small islands: Asahi Island (朝日島), Yūhi Island (夕日島), and Kiri Island (霧島). The area around the pond is said to be covered with more than 120 varieties of moss, believed to have started growing after the flooding of the temple grounds in the Edo Period.

The garden itself contains three tea houses: Shōnan-tei (湘南亭), Shōan-dō (少庵堂), and Tanhoku-tei (潭北亭), which were partially inspired by phrases from the Zen work Blue Cliff Record.

• Shōnan-tei was originally built during the 14th century, but was subsequently destroyed. It was later restored by Sen Shōan. Iwakura Tomomi was famously sheltered here towards the end of the Edo Period. Shōnan-tei is registered as an important cultural property.
• Shōan-dō was constructed in 1920, and contains a wooden image of Sen Shōan, after whom the teahouse was named.
• Tanhoku-tei was donated to the temple in 1928 by potter Zōroku Mashimizu.

The eastern temple grounds also contains the main temple hall, the study, and a three-storied pagoda.

• The main hall of the temple, known as Sairai-dō (西来堂), was reconstructed in 1969, and it was in this year that the current image of Amitabha was enshrined. The paintings on the sliding doors are the work of Inshō Dōmoto.
• The three-storied pagoda was erected in 1978, and is used to store copies of sutras, written by Rinzai adherents. The pagoda was constructed to honor Bhaisajyaguru.

The northern temple grounds contains a Zen rock garden, and a temple hall known as Shitō-an (指東庵). The arrangement of stones in the rock garden is said to be demonstrative of Musō's creative genius.

The gardens of Saihō-ji are collectively considered to be both a historical landmark and a "special place of scenic beauty" in Japan.

Apparently, the temple was open to visitors up until 1977, when - to protect the moss - the staff changed its visitation policy to only allow one visit per day, which has to be requested, in advance, in Japanese, by pre-paid return postcard. For this reason, Joel requested the assistance of yours truly.

And thus my mission began.

We planned to stop by a post office on our way to the train station on Monday, so we got our address from our landlord on Sunday night. I woke up early that morning and scoured the internet for tips and instructions on how best to go about making my request (read: something already written in Japanese that I could just copy). Luckily for me, there was a site with a document that did just that, so I downloaded the PDF to my phone and made note of the Japanese word for the specific type of postcard that I would need (ofuku hagaki). We headed to the post office by the station, and I walked up to the cashier confidently.

Me: Ofuku hagaki kudasai! [One pre-paid return postcard, please.]
Cashier: Hai! Hyaku en desu. [Yes! One hundred yen.] Approximately one dollar. She hands me a postcard.

So far, so good...until we get back over to the table with the pens and can't figure out which side our address goes on, which side the temple address goes on, and which side the message goes on. Rummaging (read: grasping desperately) through my memories of studying kanji, I make an educated guess as to where to put the addresses, and then we try to reason through where the message goes. I slowly copy the following message from my phone and take it back up to the counter.

西芳寺御中,

下記の通り苔寺の参拝を希望致しますので、ご返答をお待ちしております。

拝観希望日： 2014年　2月　18日 (火)
人数： 2人
名前： [our names]
住所：[our address]

Me: Daijoubu desu ka? [Is it okay?]
Cashier: Ah...ano... [Um...]

She then proceeds to explain to me (in extremely broken English) that I have written my message on the wrong side. She offers me another postcard for ten yen, which doesn't do much to cheer me up as I realize that I must painstakingly write the message again. I write everything on a second postcard, take it back up, and breathe a sigh of relief when the cashier gives me a nod of approval.

You can imagine our delight today when we came home and saw the reply.

I guess there are benefits to visiting during the tourist off-season.