Ajisai (Hydrangea macrophylla) flowers: Engaku-ji

The pure white flowers of Ajisai are delicately blooming beside the stone steps leading up to Ou-bai-in (the house of winter jasmine) which is the minor temple built to praise the great achievement of Muso Soseki.

Like elegant calligraphy by a Zen priest, the name of this temple engraved on the moss-covered stone pillar is divinely consonant with the modest white flowers and the vivid green leaves