The Dragon Above

Before entering the buildings of Kenninji, visitors remove their shoes.

Slipping into the slippers provided, they make their way along the wooden corridors, passing gardens, rooms, and works of art.

Eventually, they arrive at the Hatto, the Dharma Hall.

And there, they look up.

Two dragons fill the ceiling above.

Emerging through clouds, their enormous eyes seem to gaze down at those standing below.

Kenninji was founded in 1202 and is considered the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto.

Knowing its long history, it would be easy to imagine that these dragons, too, had been watching over the hall for centuries.

But they have not been there nearly that long.

They appeared in 2002.

The painting, known as Soryuzu — the Twin Dragons — was created by Japanese painter Junsaku Koizumi to commemorate the 800th anniversary of Kenninji’s founding.

Until then, no dragons had adorned the ceiling of the Dharma Hall. The wooden ceiling had remained unpainted.

The scale of Soryuzu is immense: 11.4 meters by 15.7 meters, covering an area equivalent to 108 tatami mats.

It took one year and ten months to complete.

A work of this size could not simply be painted while looking up at the ceiling of the hall.

Instead, Koizumi worked on the enormous painting in the gymnasium of a former elementary school.

There, he brought the two dragons to life on a vast surface before the completed work became the ceiling painting we see at Kenninji today.

But why are there dragons on the ceiling of a Zen temple?

In Zen Buddhism, dragons have long been regarded as protectors of the Buddhist teachings.

They are also associated with water and the bringing of rain.

Just as rain falls upon the earth and gives it life, Buddhist teachings are said to fall upon people like rain.

This is known as hou, or the “rain of the Dharma.”

It is one reason dragons are often depicted on the ceilings of Dharma halls in Zen temples.

Kenninji’s two dragons are portrayed in the form of A-Un.

One has its mouth open; the other, closed.

The dragon itself is not unique to Japan.

Across East Asia, dragons have long been associated with water and rain, and their imagery developed across cultures over centuries. Through the spread of Buddhist traditions and other cultural exchanges, these ideas also took root in Japan in different forms.

The two dragons above Kenninji stand within that much longer cultural lineage.

Today, Soryuzu has also become one of the images closely associated with Kenninji.

The twin dragons even appear on goshuincho—the books used to collect the calligraphic seals and inscriptions received at temples and shrines.

A temple founded in 1202.

Dragons created in 2002.

It is easy to assume that everything we encounter in an ancient temple must itself be centuries old.

Soryuzu suggests another way of thinking about how culture is carried forward.

Tradition is not only about preserving what already exists.

It can also mean understanding what has been passed down, giving it new form in the present, and carrying it forward once again.

After walking through the temple’s many spaces, the two dragons appear overhead in the Dharma Hall.

They look as though they have always been there.

And yet, they were born in 2002.

Ancient in meaning, yet given new form for another age.