Eihoji

Eihoji was founded in 1313 by Muso Soseki, the monk who designed the gardens at Tenryuji and Saihoji in Kyoto, and it holds two National Treasures — the Kannon hall and the founder's hall, both surviving Kamakura and Nanbokucho buildings. That is a concentration of nationally designated architecture you would expect in Kyoto or Nara, in a valley in a pottery town in eastern Gifu.

The garden is Muso's, a pond circuit designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty, with a curved bridge crossing to an island and a rock face behind. It is a working Zen training temple, which is why the atmosphere is not that of a visited site, and admission is free. It opens at seven in the morning. The great ginkgo in the grounds turns in late November.