Shugaku-in Imperial Villa - Upper Garden waterfall

The , or Shugaku-in Detached Palace, is a set of

gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

and outbuildings (mostly

teahouse A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whic ...

s) in the hills of the eastern suburbs of

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(separate from the

Kyoto Imperial Palace The is the former palace of the Emperor of Japan. Since the Meiji Restoration in 1869, the Emperors have resided at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, while the preservation of the Kyoto Imperial Palace was ordered in 1877. Today, the grounds are open t ...

). It is one of Japan's most important large-scale cultural treasures; its gardens are one of the great masterpieces of

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

ing. Although styled as a "detached palace", often translated as "imperial villa", there were never any large-scale buildings there, as there are at the

Katsura Imperial Villa The , or Katsura Detached Palace, is an Imperial residence with associated gardens and outbuildings in the western suburbs of Kyoto, Japan. Located on the western bank of the Katsura River in Katsura, Nishikyō-ku, the Villa is 8km distant fro ...

. The 53-hectare (133 acre) grounds actually include three separate gardens, the Lower Garden, Middle Garden (a later addition), and Upper Garden, of which the latter is the most important. The

Imperial Household Agency The (IHA) is an agency of the government of Japan in charge of state matters concerning the Imperial Family, and also the keeping of the Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century AD, up until the Second World War, it ...

administers it, and accepts visitors by appointment.

History

The Shugaku-in was originally constructed by the retired

Emperor Go-Mizunoo was the 108th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Go-Mizunoo's reign spanned the years from 1611 through 1629, and was the first emperor to reign entirely during the Edo period. This 17th-century sovereign was n ...

, starting in 1655, with the initial construction completed in 1659. The site had been previously occupied by the ''Enshō-ji'' nunnery, founded by his oldest daughter, Princess Ume-no-miya; it was moved to

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

to make room for Go-Mizunoo's creation. The Upper Garden contained a large artificial pond, created by building an earthen dam across a ravine; the pond contains a number of small islands. Unlike the typical Japanese garden, it is a very large stroll garden, making extensive use of the technique of

borrowing of scenery ("shakkei") Borrowed scenery (; Japanese: ; Chinese: ) is the principle of "incorporating background landscape into the composition of a garden" found in traditional East Asian garden design. The term borrowing of scenery ("shakkei") is Chinese in origin, an ...

. The Lower Garden was originally much more informal than what is now there; originally it was more of a simple arrival station for visiting guests. After Go-Mizunoo's death, his daughter

Princess Mitsuko Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning wiktionary:principal, principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. ...

became a nun, and established another temple there, the ''Ryinku-ji'', in what later became the Middle Garden. The gardens and buildings then fell into disrepair, with some of the buildings either being destroyed or removed. During the rule of

Tokugawa Ienari Tokugawa Ienari ( ja, 徳川家斉, November 18, 1773 – March 22, 1841) was the eleventh and longest-serving ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.Hall, John Whitney ''et al.'' (1991) ''Early Modern J ...

, the 11th Tokugawa ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'', the Shūgaku-in was thoroughly renovated. In 1883, the Shugaku-in came under the control of the Imperial Household Department (as it was then), and the large building which is currently in the Middle Garden was moved there. Other changes, such as the building of fences around the Lower and Middle Gardens, and the enclosure of the paths between them, soon followed, giving the Shūgaku-in the character it has today.

Garden features

The Lower Garden consists of an outer, landscaped area with walking paths, and an inner garden with villa, separated by a series of two bamboo fences each with a simple, wooden doorway. The villa (Jugetsu-kan) is irregularly shaped, with three principal rooms of 15, 12, and 5

tatami A is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. Tatamis are made in standard sizes, twice as long as wide, about 0.9 m by 1.8 m depending on the region. In martial arts, tatami are the floor used for traini ...

mats in size; the largest contains a raised section for the emperor, as well as a drawing of "The Three Laughing Sages of Kokei" said to be by Ganku (1756–1839). The garden features a small brook and pond divided by a walkway embankment, and is set off from the villa by a region of coarse, white sand with white stepping-stones. The Middle Garden contains an inner garden area with two principal buildings, again set within an outer and then inner fence. It features a fine pond predating the garden, with cascade and stone bridges. Rakushi-ken contains two principal rooms of 6 and 8 mats in size, and features two paintings by

Kanō Tanshin was a Japanese painter. He was the son of Kanō Tan'yū by his second wife, and led the Kajibashi branch of the Kanō school after 1674. Stylistically he was known for his Tosa-like (of the competing Tosa school), but more so his slight breaking ...

. Kyaku-den, the reception hall, contains two principal rooms (12.5 and 10 mats) and an altar room (6.5 mats) added after the building was moved to this site in 1678 from the palace at Tofuku-monin. It contains a celebrated shelf of

zelkova ''Zelkova'' (from Georgian ''dzelkva'', 'stone pillar') is a genus of six species of deciduous trees in the elm family Ulmaceae, native to southern Europe, and southwest and eastern Asia. They vary in size from shrubs (''Z. sicula'') to large tr ...

wood, known as the "Shelf of Mist", paintings by

Kano Hidenobu Kano may refer to: Places *Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria * Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State **Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries **Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between ...

, and fine paintings on wooden panels. The spectacular Upper Garden is reached through a simple gate and short climb through clipped shrubbery, at which point the entire garden vista is revealed. A simple pavilion of several rooms and wooden porch provides an excellent vantage point, with superb views of the pond, its islands, and the surrounding Kyoto hills. The nearby waterfall is about 10 meters in height, built of rough-hewn stones, and set within a highly picturesque surrounding. The pond is ornamented with two major structures: Chitose-bashi, a relatively ornate bridge of two large, stone piers connected by a central walkway, each capped with a wooden pavilion, one of which sports a

Chinese phoenix ''Fènghuáng'' (, ) are mythological birds found in Sinospheric mythology that reign over all other birds. The males were originally called ''fèng'' and the females ''huáng'', but such a distinction of gender is often no longer made and ...

of gilt copper; and Kyusui-tei, a simple, single-room building (18 mats) which is original. The pond also features two smaller bridges, a stone boat-landing, and a second, smaller waterfall. The pond's west bank is long and remarkably monotonous, with lawn, trees, walkway, and clipped hedge running atop the large, earthen-work dam that created the pond. The three gardens are linked by two straight

allée In landscaping, an avenue (from the French), alameda (from the Portuguese and Spanish), or allée (from the French), is traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each side, which is used, as its La ...

s, each perhaps 100 meters in length and lined by regular plantings of pine trees, that run through surrounding rice plantations and offer excellent views of both the plantations and the nearby hills. Image:Shugaku-in Imperial Villa - allee.JPG, Allée Image:Shugaku-in Imperial Villa - Lower Garden a.JPG, Lower Garden Image:Shugaku-in Imperial Villa - Lower Garden b.JPG, Lower Garden Image:Shugaku-in Imperial Villa - Middle Garden.JPG, Middle Garden

External links

Official website

] {{Authority control Imperial residences in Japan Gardens in Kyoto Prefecture Buildings and structures in Kyoto Tourist attractions in Kyoto

History

Garden features

Further reading

External links