Daikaku-ji

[1] The origins of the temple dates back to the Heian period in the year 814 CE, when Emperor Saga had a palace, known as the Saga-in, constructed on the site.

[2] According to tradition, when Japan suffered a serious epidemic, the Buddhist monk Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism, suggested that the Emperor Saga personally copy an important Buddhist religious document called the Heart Sutra (Hannya Shingyō).

The handwritten sutra is kept at the Shingyōden hall of the temple, and is displayed to the public once every sixty years, the next time being in 2078.

It is an artificial lake of 2.4 hectares that was created by Emperor Saga, either during his reign (809-823) or between his retirement from power and his death in 842.

The pond is supposed to reflect the outlines of Dongting Lake in China, which has a special significance in Chinese culture.

A poem by Ki no Tomonori in an anthology from the period, the Kokinshū, described the Kiku-shima, or island of chrysanthemums, found in the Ōsawa pond.

Another poem of the Heian period, in the Hyakunin isshu, described a cascade of rocks, which simulated a waterfall, in the same garden: The pond and the flowers are therefore by tradition to said to be the birthplace of the Saga school of ikebana, which is named in honour of the emperor.

A moon-viewing party is held in the garden every autumn for three days, around the date of the harvest moon; it features costumed dancers and musicians and dragon boats in the style of the Heian period.