Saihō-ji (西芳寺) is a Rinzai Zen Buddhist temple in Matsuo, Nishikyō Ward, Kyoto, Japan.

In 1994, Saihō-ji was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto".

[3] According to temple legend, Saihō-ji was constructed during the Nara period by Gyōki, on the location of one of Prince Shōtoku's former retreats.

According to French historian François Berthier, the garden's "islands" were "carpeted with white sand" in the fourteenth century.

The area around the pond is said to be covered with more than 120 varieties of moss, which is believed to have started growing after the flood 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.