October 26, 2024

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

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)

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

 

The Hashizume-mon Gate of the Kanazawa-jo Castle (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 Uchihashi-tei Pavilion and Kasumigaike Pond in the Kenrokuen Garden (Kanazawa-city)

 

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

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

 

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

Midoritaki Fall in the Kenroku-en Garden (Kanazawa-city)

 

Hisago-ike pond in the Kenrokuen 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)

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)

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

 

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

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

 

Kyokusui stream in the Kenrokuen Garden (Kanazawa-city)

Kyokusui stream in the Kenrokuen  Garden (Kanazawa-city)

 

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

Yugao-tei Teahouse in the Kenroku-en Garden (Kanazawa-city)

 

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

The Kyokusui stream in the Kenrokuen Garden (Kanazawa)

 

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

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

 

August 17, 2024

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center (Kamakura)

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

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)

 

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)

Sacred lotus flower: Ofuna Flower Center (Kamakura)