Ryōan-ji (Shinjitai: 竜安寺, Kyūjitai: 龍安寺^?, The Temple of the Dragon at Peace) is a Zen temple located in northwest Kyoto, Japan. It belongs to the Myōshin-ji school of the Rinzai branch of Zen Buddhism. The temple garden is considered to be one of the finest examples of a kare-sansui, a Japanese rock garden, or zen garden, in Japan.. The temple and gardens are listed as Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, and as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The site of the temple was an estate of the Fujiwara family in the 11th century. The first temple, the Daiju-in, and garden were built in that century by Fujiwara Saneyoshi. In 1450, Hosokawa Katsumoto, another powerful warlord, acquired the land where the temple stood. He built his residence there founded a zen temple, Ryōan-ji, on the upper part of the territory of the old temple. During the Ōnin War between the clans, the temple was destroyed. Hosokawa Katsumoto died in 1473. In 1488, his son, Hosokawa Matsumoto, rebuilt the temple, and probably built the rock garden at the same time..