Higashi Hongan-ji Temple’s Civic Green Space (Ohigashi-san Hiroba Square)Gardens created｜Gardens managed

Higashi Hongan-ji Temple’s Civic Green Space (Ohigashi-san Hiroba Square) is located in front of the temple's gate just a few minutes away from Kyoto Station. As part of its efforts to activate the Kyoto Station area, Kyoto City had been considering how to put this green space to more active use, and it turned out that Higashi Hongan-ji Temple was also interested in using the space to make its temple more accessible to the local neighborhood. Thus was born a common purpose, and this green space was worked on from 2021-2023.

Since the late nineteenth century, this green space has existed as one of the areas belonging to Higashi Hongan-ji Temple. One of its most famous features is a fountain created at its center using water drawn from the Lake Biwa Canal, one of Kyoto's great modern infrastructure achievements. Kyoto City and Higashi Hongan-ji Temple agreed that the public streets in front of the temple and the temple's green area would be reorganized into a comprehensive "civic green space." The concepts for this project were "a space to gather and rest," "a space for historical and cultural communication," and "a space for welcoming field trip students." Its construction was jointly performed by Kawahara Landscape and Ueyakato Landscape from 2021-22. The public street area was turned into a multi-purpose space and the green area became an open green space with a grass lawn and cherry blossoms. On March 24, 2023, it opened as Kyoto City's very first civic green space, amid hopes that it will now be used even more actively than before.