The screen paintings inside the temple and the garden are attributed to Sōami (d. 1525), a Zen monk, ink painter and follower of the sect of the Amida Buddha.

According to art historian Miyeko Murase, the work of Soami represents "the very essence of the serenity of nature, the sacred ideal of all the zen monks and ink painters of the Muromachi period".

Wybe Kuitert suggests that the name "Soami" may have been used as a euphemism for garden makers who were of the untouchable kawaramono class and not versed in Buddhism.

[4]: 95–98 The main garden, in an "L" shape, is to the northeast of and facing the shoin, the study of the hojo, the residence of the head of the monastery.

It contains a miniature landscape similar to a Song dynasty landscape painting, composed of rocks suggesting mountains and a waterfall, clipped shrubs and trees representing a forest, and raked white gravel representing a river.

The mountain at the beginning of the garden is Mount Horai, the traditional meeting place of the Eight Immortals in Daoist legends, symbolized by a camellia.