
Obai Temple
by Ido Masao
- Medium:
- Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
- Image courtesy of
- Saru Gallery
Description
Ōbai-in is a sub-temple within the vast Daitoku-ji complex in northern Kyoto, founded in 1583 as the bodaiji of the Mōri clan and closely tied to the wabi-cha tea tradition through its association with Sen no Rikyū. The Naka-roji moss garden and the Bokuseki-no-niwa rock garden are its principal subjects for landscape artists. Ido's print most likely takes the approach roji — a stepping-stone path crossing carpet-thick moss, flanked by clipped azalea and shaded by a few specimen maples — with a corner of the kuri kitchen building or zen-shū gate anchoring one side. Bokashi handles the dappled light across the moss surface, while careful key-block work delineates the irregular stepping stones. Printed on washi through multiple color passes, the sheet belongs to Ido's Daitoku-ji grouping alongside Kōtō-in and Daisen-in, all chosen for the way their Momoyama-period tea-garden design distills Kyoto's cultural inheritance into compact, intensively designed enclosures.
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Fushimi Inari Temple
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A Section of the Byodo Temple at Uji (Uji Byodoin no ichibu), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"
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Color woodblock print; oban
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Obai Temple was created by Ido Masao (井堂雅夫).
Obai Temple depicts temples & shrines.



