Musō Soseki
Several of the famous zen gardens of Kyoto were the work of one man; Musō Soseki (1275–1351). He was a monk, a ninth-generation descendant of the Emperor Uda and a formidable court politician, writer and organizer, who armed and financed ships to open trade with China, and founded an organization called the Five Mountains, made up of the most powerful Zen monasteries in Kyoto. He was responsible for the building of the zen gardens of Nanzen-ji; Saihō-ji (The Moss Garden); and Tenryū-ji.