Daikaku-ji Temple, Buddhist temple in Sagano district, Kyoto

Daikaku-ji is a Shingon Buddhist temple in Ukyō Ward, Kyoto, whose main buildings line a central axis: the Imperial Messenger Gate, the Miei Hall, and the Shingyōden sutra hall, with the Five Great Hall to the east and the Shinden and Shōshinden to the west, linked by covered corridors. The Shōshinden's Okanmuri-no-ma room has a raised throne platform and sliding screens painted with peonies and red and white plum blossoms by Kanō Sanraku and Watanabe Shikō. Ōsawa Pond, a 2.4-hectare artificial lake, lies within the grounds, with two islands at its north end.

Emperor Saga built the Saga-in palace here in 814 and retired to it as the Saga Rikyu villa. In 876 his daughter Princess Masako, consort of Emperor Junna, turned the complex into a temple, with Prince Gojaku as founding abbot. Retired emperors Go-Saga, Kameyama and Go-Uda later resided and ruled from Daikaku-ji, whose line gave its name to the Daikaku-ji branch of the imperial succession.

The temple is the headquarters of the Saga Goryū school of ikebana, which traces its origin to Emperor Saga arranging chrysanthemums picked on Chrysanthemum Island in Ōsawa Pond. The pond's two islands and one rock set the school's layout. In 1936 Tsujii Kōshū, a disciple of Ohara Unshin, established the school here.

The temple is in Sagano, Ukyō Ward, Kyoto. The grounds are bordered by the Arisugawa stream, which serves as a natural moat along the south and west. The main buildings are linked by covered corridors, and the Shōshinden's low ceiling was built to prevent weapons from being raised. Photography is restricted inside several halls.

Osawa Pond was created more than 1,200 years ago as one of Japan's earliest man-made water features designed for boating. Its layout follows Chinese models and demonstrates early continental influence on Japanese garden design.