Jofukuji

Jufukuji stands at Emukae, in the north of Sasebo. It belongs to the Chisan branch of the Shingon school. It is known for a trick of reflection that the temple sets up twice a year, in which the garden appears upside down inside the building.

For the autumn opening the temple lifts part of the tatami in its large room and fits a sheet of acrylic into the floor. The momiji in the garden outside, the maples whose leaves turn red in autumn, are caught in it, so that a visitor sitting in the room sees the trees hanging downwards in the panel, framed like a painting. The temple calls this sakasa momiji, the upside-down momiji.

The same is done in early summer, when the new leaves are showing instead, and that opening is called the reversed green.

Both are shown only for a set number of days, which the temple announces each year.