Tokai-an, founded in 1484 is a sub-temple of the head temple Myoshin-ji. Its gardens were created more than three hundred years later. The temple has three gardens, one of which is inside. One of the external garden consists only of a flat field of white gravel raked in straight lines, nothing else. The other, covered with moss, features rocks, trees and shrubs. The last garden is “tsuboniwa” – a courtyard garden of small dimensions, surrounded by corridors. It consists of a bed of gravel and seven stones aligned in a row. The gravel is raked in concentric circles which start in the middle of the garden, location of the smallest stone. It evokes the idea of the solar system.