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context: gardens > paradise gardens
Saiho-ji/Kokedera
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Saiho-ji is the temple name, but it is more commonly referred to as Kokedera, "moss temple". The garden was designed around 1339 by Muso Soseki (see also Tenryu-ji), and it marks a kind of transition point towards the next section, looking at dry gardens, in that it has the first known example of this as part of its larger design.
It's famous for the beautiful moss (over 40 varieties) covering much of it; however this was not at all a part of the original design. In the late 19th Century the temple and buildings were in ruins and there was no money to maintain the garden, and the moss grew over the sand-covered islands.