The Gyokusen’inmaru Garden in the Kanazawa-jo Castle Park (Kanazawa-city)

This "Daimyo" garden, which has a circular pond, three central islands and circulating walking paths, is called "Gyokusen’inmaru Garden" and is located in the outer ring of Kanazawa-jo Castle Park, in the centre of Kanazawa City (Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan).

 

"Daimyo" means a great feudal lord of Samurai and Daimyo gardens are built for social events and pastime such as tea ceremonies, boating and moon-watching parties by the feudal lords of each domain in the Edo period when Tokugawa Shogunate Family was in power (1603-1868). 

As each clan competed with each other, the landscape design techniques developed, and it is said that Japanese garden design techniques reached their zenith during this period.

The "Ishigaki" stone-walls and the ash-gray "Sanjyukken Nagaya" (30 terraced fortress-house) on the rear hill beautifully enhance the elegant high-and-low landscape of this garden.

This garden was created in the early Edo period in the Gyokusen-in-maru area of the Kanazawa Castle, which was the residence of the Maeda family, the lords of Kaga Hyakumangoku (the wealthy Kaga Domain with a net worth of 1 million koku of rice).

The garden was abandoned in the Meiji period (1868-1912) and its appearance was mostly lost. Its restoration work began in 2013 and was completed in 2015, based on the results of excavations carried out over a five-year period from 2008, as well as the researches of its remained drawings, documents and other similar Daimyo-garden examples.

Chozubachi Water Basin of the Gyokusen’inmaru Garden in the Kanazawa-jo Castle Park (Kanazawa-city)

I found this mysterious Chozu-bachi in front of the veranda of Gyokusen-an teahouse which is built at the place where the Roji-yakusho (the office for the maintenance and management of the garden) stood originally. 

A Chozu-bachi is a stone washbasin for a purification ceremony to clean up our bodies and souls before entering into sacred places. Such a washbasin is typically placed at the entrances of shrines, temples, tea houses, and various Japanese traditional gardens. 

The strange shape of this Chozu-bachi seems to imply Yin-Yang stones, which is said to have been installed in every Daimyo-garden for praying for the eternal longevity and prosperity of the feudal clan and its descendants.

Daimyo lords incorporated the idea of Shenxian thought into the designs of their gardens. This philosophy is based on the ancient Chinese folk belief about the existence of Mount Penglai, which is the enchanted island of eternal youth and immortality.

The worship of Yin-Yang stones comes from this Shenxian thought which was a predominant world view of the Japanese in the Edo period. 

Yin-Yang stones are the rocks in the shape of male and female genitalia in pairs, which promise us good fortune for marriage and safe delivery. 

To Daimyo lords, the failure to produce their heirs meant the end of their clans and families, so they implicitly placed such stones in their gardens as a good luck charm for their longevity and prosperity.

Furthermore, evergreen pine-trees were planted extensively in Daimyo gardens as an auspicious symbol of everlasting happiness.

The Gyokusen’inmaru Garden in the Kanazawa-jo Castle Park (Kanazawa-city)

 

The Hashizume-mon Gate of the Kanazawa-jo Castle (Kanazawa-city)

Kanazawa Castle was established in 1583 by MaedaToshiie who was the first feudal lord of the Kaga domain and this castle was used as the daimyo residence of the Maeda family from generation to generation during the Edo period. 

This beautiful and impregnable castle has survived while enduring repeated major fires and lightning damages, as well as the crisis of the Meiji government's policy of abandoning castles.

The Namako-kabe (square tiles jointed with raised plaster walls) and chekered stone-walls are impressive characteristics of this castle. It is known as a "stone-wall museum", in which the various styles of stone masonry construction can be seen.

 

Thanks to the efforts of local people in the Showa period and later, this almost half-destroyed castle has been restored to its present magnificent appearance and the restoration work of its Ninomaru-goten Palace (outer-citadel palace) is still ongoing.

For more information, please visit the official website of Kanazawa Castle Park:Kanazawa Castle Park

The Uchihashi-tei Pavilion and Kasumigaike Pond in the Kenrokuen Garden (Kanazawa-city)

The Kenrokuen Garden is a representative "Chisen-Kaiyu-shiki" Daymyo garden of the Edo period. This large garden originated from the Daimyo Garden built by the Kaga clan on the outskirts of Kanazawa Castle in the mid-17th century.

It is one of the three most famous Daimyo gardens in Japan, along with the Korakuen Garden in Okayama City and the Kairakuen Garden in Mito City.

In such a garden, ponds, various garden stones, plants and trees are aesthetically placed to create a view that allows viewers to quietly enjoy Kacho-hugetsu (the beauties and wonders of nature) in every season and the peaceful heaven on earth.

Many landscaping techniques are used to express how water flows from deep mountains into a large stream, how stones are arranged to form symbolic auspicious figures, or how a garden looks like Mount Penglai (the enchanted island of eternal youth in Chinese mythology).

"Kenrokuen" was named in 1822 by Matsudaira Sadanobu, then lord of the Shirakawa domain, at the request of Maeda Narihiro, the 12th lord of the Kaga domain.

The name Kenrokuen, which means garden of six virtues, is quoted from the "Records of Luoyang Famous Gardens" written by the Sung dynasty poet "Li Guei-nui". 

In this work, this poet describes the excellent gardens in Luoyang in China as those that combine the six admirable elements, namely elegance/splendour, modesty/silence, fine workmanship, authenticity/classicism, ponds/fountains and magnificent views.

The Kasumigaike Pond and the Kotoji-toro garden-lantern in the Kenrokuen Garden (Kanazawa-city)

As you enter the Kenrokuen garden through the Katsura-zaka gate, the first thing you see is this calm rippled water of the Kasumiga-ike pond. 

The graceful Kotoji-torou stone lantern, which is one of the most notable features of this garden, stands beside the Niji-bashi (Rainbow bridge) as if to give calm glory to this scenery. "Kotoji" means a forked Koto-pole which supports a koto string of a Japanese harp.

 

The beauties of this garden seem to be presented by the abundant water supplied from the Kasumiga-ike pond through the man-made Tatsumi-yousui waterlines. Various Kyokusui (running water) streams flow through many places and these streams continues to flow into different ponds, falls, and fountains to present the elegant and tasteful scenes of water.

This garden is said to imitate Lake Biwa and the Eight Views of Omi (Shiga Prefecture), which has been historically praised as the most excellent landscape in Japan. The Eight Views of Omi is originated under the direct influence of the Chinese landscape painting of "the Eight Views of Xiaoxiang". 

"Matsushima" (pine island) stands in the center of the Kasumiga-ike pond. This small artificial island symbolizes Penglai Island which is the enchanted land of perpetual youth from Chinese mythology.

On the opposite shore stands a teahouse called Uchihashi-tei Pavilion, which beautifully decorates the quiet scape of this pond. Supported by stone legs, this pavilion appears to float still on the surface of the pond water.

For more information, please visit the official website of Kenrokuen.

Midori-taki Fall in the Kenroku-en Garden (Kanazawa-city)

 

Hisago-ike pond in the Kenrokuen Garden (Kanazawa-city)

 

Kaiseki-to Tower and Midori-taki Fall in the Kenroku-en Garden (Kanazawa-city)

 

Ganko-bashi bridge and Kyokusui stream in Kenrokuen Garden (Kanazawa-city)

 

Hunsui fountain in the Kenroku-en Garden (Kanazawa-city)

This is the oldest existing fountain in Japan, located opposite the site of demolished Shigure-tei (drizzling-rain cottage).

Thanks to the height difference with the Kasumiga-ike pond, water descends from this pond through the underground stone-pipe of Tatsumi-yousui and spouts out by the inverted siphon action.

Shigure-tei was a teahouse in this garden, which had existed since the 5th feudal lord Tsunanori created this garden, and was mainly used for the tea ceremony. After the abolition of clans in the early Meiji era, it was unfortunately demolished. In 2000, it was restored at a different location with the completion of the new garden.

Kyokusui stream in the Kenrokuen Garden (Kanazawa-city)

 

Yugao-tei Teahouse in the Kenrokuen Garden (Kanazawa-city)

 

The Kyokusui stream in the Kenrokuen Garden (Kanazawa-city)

 

The Shin-en Garden of Oyama-jinjya Shrine (Kanazawa-city)

 

The water-fall of the Shin-en Garden of Oyama-jinjya Shrine (Kanazawa-city)

 

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center (Kamakura)

In Buddhism, the lotus flower, which grows up from swamp and keeps clean and untainted by mud, has been used in its various symbolisms according to the Buddhist goal of liberating from our worldly desires and ignorance and entering into the pure state of Nirvana. 

The purity and beauty of the lotus flowers, which sublimely bloom above the surface of the sacred lotus pond, are typical and essential elements in the Pure Land Sutra and other Mahayana Buddhist scriptures. 

In the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism, it is said that a holy person who has left this earthly world to be born in the land of utmost bliss will incarnate on the center of the flower in the pure land.

 

Sacred lotus flower: Kencho-ji

In the glaring sunlight of high summer, in front of the black-lacquered Chokusi-mon gate (imperial envoy gate), which is elaborately decorated with numerous gilded ornamental fittings in the motif of peony flowers, a red lotus bud is nobly rising from the lotus pot and quietly preparing for its blooming.

In India, the land of scorching heat, the cool waterside is traditionally considered to be an ideal place to live. The lotus flower blooming magnificently above the water surface has been respected and cherished by Indian people since ancient times, as the symbol of the paradise where they can be released from the painful reality of living.

Such respect and admiration to the lotus flower have been represented in various ways to adorn every god in Indian mythology and are inherited by Buddhism as the essential emblem of the Land of Happiness.

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center (Kamakura)

 

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center (Kamakura)

In the Pure Land of Perfect Bliss, the countless lotus flowers of various colors are blooming splendidly in the boundless pond, and each of them has the immeasurable petals of its own color. 

These petals are shining with the light of their own colors, and each light preaches the wisdom teachings of Buddha to those who have passed away into the Pure Land so that their minds can be absolutely at peace on the path to becoming a Buddha (enlightened person).

(The foregoing translated passage is quoted from the Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life with addition of my interpretation.)

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center (Kamakura)