Shinsen-en garden ［神泉苑］ ( Shinsen-en): A garden established on the grounds of the imperial palace in Kyoto, Japan. When the capital was moved to Kyoto by Emperor Kammu (r. 781–806), Shinsen-en garden was established for the banquets and other amusements of the emperor and court nobles. Kōbō, the founder of the Japanese True Word (Shingon) school, conducted a ritual of prayer for rain in this garden during the disastrous drought of 824, and thereafter it became a place of religious observance, particularly, ritual prayer for rain. Whenever a drought occurred, True Word priests were summoned to the garden to pray for rain. In 1607 a temple of the True Word school was built there.