Kannonin Temple 観音院

View the Japanese-style landscape garden, the focal point of this sacred place, from the terrace of Kannonin Temple. Around the large pond in the center are a manicured lawn and pine trees, and in the center are rock islands representing a crane and a turtle.

Contemplate the beauty of the garden with a bowl of matcha tea.

From Tottori Station, take a 100-yen Kururi bus on the Red Line. Get off at Nakamachi and walk a further five minutes.

On foot, Kannonin is a 20-minute walk from Tottori Station.

Kannonin is a temple of the Tendai sect of Buddhism and was constructed in the 1630s at the request of the ruling Ikeda clan. Such was the attention to detail that the garden took 10 years to complete.

The entrance to the temple is also a thing of beauty. The Ryugumon gate's design is based on the entrance to the legendary undersea palace of the dragon god, Ryujin.