DUO’S JOURNEY｜Shakkei - Neighbouring Textures

Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens / Tokyo

The historic Japanese garden built in 1629 within separate Edo residence of the Mito domain, used to have Mount Fuji as its shakkei (borrowed scenery). The garden is now adjacent to an amusement park that bears its name. If we take the Tokyo Dome, with its abstracted white form and incomparably enormous scale, as a shakkei to the Koishikawa Korakuen, the structure might be considered a piece of nature, like a mountain. The garden is designated as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty by the national government.

Hama-rikyu Gardens / Tokyo

Originally a hunting ground for the Shogun family, in 1654, the Kofu domain reclaimed coastal land and built a villa. The garden was later renamed Hama Goten as a villa for the shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration, the palace came under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Agency, and the Ministry changed the name to Hama-rikyu. In the garden created on reclaimed land, except for some hills, the overall topography is very flat, and the high-rise buildings of Shiodome stand out like a modern forest in the background. The verticality of the modern forest and the horizontality of the pond, which exaggerates the flatness of the terrain, create a wonderful harmony. Modern architecture has become a shakkei. The garden is designated as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty by the national government.

Mukojima Hyakkaen / Tokyo

This garden was created by an antique dealer in 1804 during the Edo period (1603-1868) and was open to the general public as a private garden where flowers bloomed throughout the four seasons. In 1939, it was transferred to the City of Tokyo and became a public garden. It is more of a flower garden than a Japanese garden. There is a store where you can buy a soda and drink it on the spot. You can feel that it is a flower garden for the people. The garden is designated as a Place of Scenic Beauty by the national government.

Kokyo Gaien National Garden / Tokyo

Every time I visit the Imperial Palace Plaza in the Kokyo Gaien, I am touched by it. It is a place where you feel a unique atmosphere. The vast square with only gravel and pine trees has the size of 109,900 square meters. The overwhelming vastness achieved by the excellent maintenance, in contrast with the buildings of Marunouchi, creates a comfortable atmosphere. It was completed in 1888.

Entsu-ji Temple / Kyoto

The temple was originally the villa of Emperor Go-Mizunoo, and it is said that he was involved in the creation of the garden. After completing the Shugakuin-rikyu (Shugakuin Imperial Villa), also built by Emperor Go-Mizunoo, the villa became a temple in 1678. The garden with the shakkei of Mt. Hiei has always been one of the most representative gardens in research papers on Japanese gardens, and the quality of the shakkei is among the best. The garden is designated as a Place of Scenic Beauty by the national government.

Shoden-ji Temple / Kyoto

The garden has a shakkei of Mount Hiei. The garden itself is extremely minimalistic, consisting only of white sand and Satsuki azalea trimmings. Beyond the garden, we see the trees within the Shoden-ji grounds that appear to grow candidly, undesigned. The trees create a viewpoint toward Mount Hiei in the distance. This is a shakkei garden with a meticulously calculated structure. It was built in 1653 during the Edo period (1603-1868), but the present appearance was created by Mirei Shigemori, who was active in the Showa period (1926-1989). It is designated as a Place of Scenic Beauty by the city of Kyoto.

Shugakuin Imperial Villa / Kyoto

Like Entsu-ji, this is a detached palace built by Emperor Go-Mizunoo. It is a majestic palace with a total area of over 545,000m2. It is divided into three areas: the Lower Imperial Palace, the Middle Imperial Palace, and the Upper Imperial Palace. There stretch the 80,000m2 rice paddies, and a row of pine trees crossing the rice paddies connects the three palaces. The difference in elevation between the Lower and Upper Palaces is nearly 40 meters, and the view from the Upper Palace is dramatic, with the Yokuryu Pond just below and the mountains in the distance beyond as a shakkei.

Katsura Imperial Villa / Kyoto

The Katsura Imperial Villa was a villa of the Hachijo-no-Miya family, built over about 50 years from 1615 during the Edo period (1603-1868). Since its construction, it has never been damaged by fire and is almost completely in its original state. After the Hachijo-no-Miya family died out in 1881, the villa became under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Agency in 1883 and was named Katsura Rikyu (Katsura Imperial Villa). The image of Katsura Imperial Villa is probably best known for the beautiful photographs taken by photographer Yasuhiro Ishimoto. His photos certainly inspire a sense of pride in Japanese culture.

Higashiyama Jisho-ji Temple / Kyoto

Higashiyama Jisho-ji Temple, also known as Ginkaku-ji Temple, was built by the 8th Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa in the Muromachi period (1336-1573). It would be a common impression that Japanese gardens, although they have circulation, seem to be slow to change and lack fluctuation. However, in Higashiyama Jisho-ji, each zone has its clear spatial characteristics, and if you walk around with this in mind, you will enjoy the variation. At the entrance, there is a narrow and high passage with no view of the surroundings, and once you clear it, there is an expanse centered on the main pond and sandhill, and by climbing further up, you get a bird’s eye view. It is rare among Japanese gardens to have such a straightforward three-level spatial structure. The garden is designated as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty by the national government and as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ritsurin Garden / Kagawa

Ritsurin Garden was a residence of the Matsudaira family, the lords of the Takamatsu domain, until the Meiji Restoration. It was opened to the public as a prefectural park in 1875. The total area of the garden is about 162,000 square meters, or about 750,000 square meters if you include the shakkei of Mount Shiun. The vast site is divided into the North Garden and the South Garden, and the current highlight is the well-maintained South Garden. A teahouse called Kikugetsu-tei faces a pond called Nan-ko, and the view of Nan-ko pond from the teahouse is truly magnificent. It is designated as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty by the national government.

Betsugu of the Ise Inner Shrine, Takihara-no-Miya Shrine / Mie

Takihara-no-Miya is one of the detached shrines outside of Ise Jingu. Inside the Ise Jingu grounds is Takihara-Narabi-no-Miya which, like Ise Jingu, has been undergoing a ceremonial relocation every 20 years for 1300 years. The shrine buildings are rebuilt alternately on the west and east sides of the site. According to tradition, the origin of Takihara-no-Miya dates 2000 years back, and it is mentioned in a book dated 804 C.E. The origins of Takihara-no-Miya are unknown, but it seems that a similar relocation ceremony was established in the middle of the Heian period. The area around the entrance to the shrine is filled with an unmistakably sacred atmosphere.

Murin-an / Kyoto

Murin-an was built as a villa for the Meiji- and Taisho-era (turn of the 20th century) politician Arimoto Yamagata. The strip of land where Murin-an sits was originally among the vast precincts of the nearby temple Nanzen-ji. The temple’s precincts were reduced when Buddhism was abolished in the early Meiji era, however, and the subject land was refashioned for constructing 15 or so villas, including Murin-an, which was among the first built. None other than the highly regarded Jihei Ogawa VII designed the garden. Jihei Ogawa went on to design the gardens of many of the villas that followed. This one is designated as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty by the national government.

Ninna-ji Temple / Kyoto

Ninna-ji, a temple of Shingon Buddhism, was founded in 888 C.E. in the Heian period. Figures from the imperial family served as priests here until the Taisho era in the early 20th century. The garden comprises the north and south gardens on opposite sides of the lecture hall, with the north garden having a five-story pagoda as shakkei being designed in its present iteration by Jihei Ogawa VII. The cherry blossom and tachibana trees planted in front of the ceremonial hall (or shinden) in the south garden are similar to those planted in the Shishinden of the Kyoto Imperial Palace. The garden is designated a Place of Scenic Beauty by the national government and also registered as a World Heritage Site.

Tokyo Shiba Tofuya Ukai / Tokyo

Located at the base of Tokyo Tower in the heart of the city is the tofu kaiseki cuisine restaurant in Shiba, Tokyo. With its immaculate Japanese garden, the site is nigh fantastical. Diners are treated to unique views of the garden from each of the restaurant’s private rooms while enjoying their exquisite meal.

Daikaku-ji Temple, Osawa-no-ike pond / Kyoto

Daikaku-ji temple was originally built as an imperial villa for Emperor Saga about 1,200 years ago in the Heian period. The pond Osawa-no-ike is an artificial pond, modeled after Dongting Lake, the second-largest freshwater lake in China. The pond, about a kilometer in circumference, has shakkei that includes the mountainous region of Arashiyama. It is designated as a Place of Scenic Beauty by the national government.

Honraku-ji Temple / Tokushima

Honraku-ji Temple is a Shingon Buddhist temple located on a mountain cliff wall facing the Yoshino River. This historical temple was founded in the Heian period (828). The rock garden was built relatively recently, using the Yoshino River and the Asan Mountains as its shakkei. This modern shakkei garden has an unparalleled clear composition.

Tenryu-ji / Kyoto

A temple of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, Tenryu-ji was founded by Ashikaga Takauji, founder of the Muromachi shogunate. The pond garden Sogenchi Teien was laid out by Muso Soseki. With Arashiyama as its shakkei, Sogenchi Teien is designated both a National Special Place of Scenic Beauty and a World Heritage Site.

Kyoto Sento Imperial Palace / Kyoto

The Sento Imperial Palace was a residence for retired emperors. Its construction began in 1630, on the occasion of the retirement of Emperor Go-Mizunoo, who built the Shugakuin Imperial Villa. The garden was originally designed by Enshu Kobori and was later modified by retired emperors, including Emperor Go-Mizunoo, bringing it close to its present form.

Destinations