Tōfuku-ji Temple
Sprawling Zen temple complex famed for a maple-lined valley bridge and Japan's oldest surviving monastery toilet.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto opens with a maintenance worker's car crashing backward into Japan's oldest surviving monastery toilet on a quiet morning in October 2022. From there it steps back to the 1200s, when Zen monks here queued in silence at this wooden hall as part of their daily training, and to the temple's practice of selling what they left behind to nearby farmers. Look for the faint marks near one corner where centuries of use and a very modern accident meet.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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