Garden of Nezu Museum (Tokyo)

The Nezu Museum located in Minami-Aoyama in Tokyo reopened last autumn after having been remodeled for over 3 years.

This museum was founded in 1941 by Kaichiro Nezu who was a big businessman to exhibit his large collection of Japanese and East Asia arts. 

The site of the museum covering more than 20,000 square meters used to be his private residence and garden.

Since Mr. Nezu was known as a connoisseur of "Cha-no-yu", or the tea ceremony, the garden was tasteful; it was dotted with four tea houses and many stone ornaments.

It was a fine day. I strolled in the garden surrounded by deciduous trees. It was so calm that I forgot I was in the heart of the city.

When I visited the garden last November, autumn leaves were so beautiful. Paticularly the water scenes reflecting the blue sky and the surrounding colored trees were impressive. I heard the visitors admire the view here and there. In this season, fresh green and Iris flowers will please your eyes.

 

The garden seems to serve as an oasis in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city.

 

 

Sengan-en grden in Kagoshima

Sengan-en garden located in Kagoshima-shi is a superb "Daimyo garden". It was built in 1658 in the Edo period and used for 250 years as a villa of the feudal lords, Shimazu family.

The garden faces Kinko Bay and a volcano, Sakura-jima serving as the magnificent borrowed landscape. 

The garden contains a lot of historic artifices: the residence with various luxuries, the Chinese-style pavilion that is said to have been a gift from the Lord of Ryukyu, or the crane-shaped stone lantern which was the first gas lamp in Japan.

(Above: Iso Residence)

(Above: The Bogakuro pavilion)

(Above: The crane-shaped stone lantern)

In the middle of the 19th century, the lord of Satsuma (Kagoshima today), Nariakira Shimazu aimed at modernization of Japan imitating European countries.

So the garden has a lot of historic sites which tell the dawn of the modernization in Japan.

(Above: Historical Museum Shoko Shuseikan in the garden)

 

 

Giant Ginkgo in Zenpuku-ji (Tokyo)

I love giant trees. Every time I look up them, I feel something holy encouraging me. And their expressive look seems to tell us the history they have seen. So when I decide the destination of my trip, I tend to choose the place where I can see huge trees.

However, to my surprise, it is Tokyo that has the largest number of huge trees in all the prefectures in Japan. Trees over 3 meters in girth are registered as huge trees. And one third of those huge trees (1,205 trees) are in the heart of Tokyo.

There is a reason. According to the journal I read, there were about 300 residences of local lords in Tokyo in the Edo period, and each residence had a spacious garden known as "Daimyo gardens"today. There were many large temples, too.

The trees planted there grew up to be huge during the 250 years of the Tokugawa shogunate. Tokyo in the Edo period was called "a great garden city". 

(Above: Daimyo garden, Rikugi-en)

In the middle of the 19th century, the Meiji era started. The government that took away the lord's properties cut the trees down to build new buildings. Most of the huge trees in the heart of Tokyo disappeared at that time.

But huge trees still remain in temples, or in parks originated in "Daimyo gardens". The pictures below are the giant ginkgo in Zenpuku-ji temple in Azabu.

It is more than 10 meters in girth and they say it is 750 years old. Although it was burned by an attack during the World War II, it survived.

 

Unique rock garden---Zuisenji temple in Kamakura

Zuisenji temple is now well known as a "temple of flowers" and seasonal flowers in the front garden please the visitors.

However few people go to the backyard. There is a very important garden which marked an epoch in the history of garden, though it doesn't look like a garden.

The garden was constructed at the beginning of 14th century in the Kamakura Period by Muso Soseki, who was a great priest of Zen and master of garden making.

The appearance of the garden is very different from that of ordinary gardens. He carved the garden elements such as pond, waterfall or small islands from the huge bedrock of tuff. I'd rather call it a magnificent sculpture than a garden.

Muso created his own particular style of garden inspired by the idea of Suibokuga, or Chinese ink painting.

It is said that this garden affected especially the composition of dry landscape gardens in Zen temples thereafter. 

For inquiries: http://guide.city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp

Bamboo garden---Hokokuji temple in Kamakura

Kamkura was the capital of Japan over 150 years from the end of the 12th century to the middle of the 14th century. So there remain many  historic sites.

From such a point of view, Kamakura is similar to Kyoto and Nara. However the atmosphere is very different from that of these two ancient capitals.

Kyoto and Nara that were governed by nobles are elegant or refined. But it was warriors who ruled Kamakura. And a strict Zen Buddhism was just introduced from China, and soon became popular among people at that period.

So temples in Kamakura seem to be filled with a rustic or tranquil atmosphere.There are no artistic ancient gardens like the ones Kyoto has. They are rather natural than artificial. However my favorite gardens are there, too.

(Above: "Yagura" of Hokokuji. The Yagura is a cave to accommodate tombs and proper to Kamakura. You'll see lots of Yagura in the precincts of temples in Kamakura)

Hokokuji temple is known as the bamboo garden. The grove with 2,000 bamboos in the backyard of the temple is well maintained and excellent.

Since it was early morning when I visited, nobody was there except for me. I had a cup of tea at the tea house in a corner of the garden in a quiet atmosphere, looking at the sun's rays slanting across the bamboo grove and listening to the rustling of their leaves.

When the wind goes through the grove, the dead leaves fall. Since bamboo leaves are so light, they float in the air for a while as if they were a fairy's boat.