Reservation is required for the admission to this temple known as KOKE-dera. Therefore you need an extra effort to go there but still many people go. Because of this restriction, however, the crowd is controlled and you can have a piece of mind in busy Kyoto. Some of the visitors of one session are always from abroad.
First you are requested to take off your shoes, invited into the main hall where you sit - chairs are also prepared on the veranda surrounding the main room when it's warm - and join an easy ritual like listening to a temple monk chant a Buddhist scripture, tracing a short Buddhist scripture, or writing down your wish on a thin wooden bar of hand-holding size. Then you are invited into the famed garden covered with moss and stroll freely.
The moss garden is so well-noted that people tend to ignore the upper part of the dry landscape garden. Little remains there except a rock formation supposedly representing a three-leveled waterfall but that's where the legacy from the original garden built in the 14th century remains.
The temple itself is older than the garden from the 14th century. Legendarily, it was first a villa of imperial prince SHOTOKU from the 7th century. The temple has a long history but the restoration by a prominent ZEN Buddhist monk MUSO SOSEKI in 1339 was a turning point of this temple. Another important incident should have happened in the middle of the 19th century when Japan was still feudalistic but soon greeting a new age to become a modern state. The temple had been deserted and began to be covered with moss probably because of suitable humidity from a stream nearby. Thanks to that, though, the temple is now renowned as KOKE or moss temple.
The ASHIKAGA shogun generals often came to the temple in the 14th century after the temple was restored by MUSO. In fact, the famed Rokuonji GOLDEN PAVILION TEMPLE and Jishoji SILVER PAVILION TEMPLE built by ASHIKAGA shoguns respectively were based on the design of this temple and garden.
Steve Jobs often came here with the family.
The first part of the garden 
Three rocks are in typical formation but almost covered with moss
Three-leveled Waterfall The real thing looks much better than the picture
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