The legacy of Isui-en Garden through its owners

The site of Isui-en Garden now used to be a part of the land of nearby temple. The ground was bought in the 1670s by Kiyosumi Micikiyo, a wealthy bleacher and hemp textile maker.  He reconstructed the front (west) garden and built two houses with thatched roofs: Sanshu-tei and Tei-shu-ken as a family villa.
 

The bridge below leads you to Sanshu-tei building.

 The building remains the same as it was at the construction time.

 

The place is used as a Japanese restaurant. 
Isn't it nice to have meals while looking at the garden?

Leaving the front garden and passing by another building, Hyoshin-tei, ......

 

...., you'll be stunned with the view unfolding before your eyes.

Wakakusa and Kasuga mountains and Nandiamo Gate of Todai-ji are used as "borrowed scenery".

The larger rear (east) garden designed by Seki Tojiro, a businessman of Nara, dates from 1899.  Tojiro hired Horitoku, a garden architect from the school of Urasenke, for the redesign and left two Tea Ceremony houses, Seishu-an and Hyoshin-tei. 

The pond is dug in the shape of the  sosho style Chinese character for 水(water) different from the Japanese garden convention of creating 心(heart).  依水園　Isui-en literally means "garden founded on water".  It's ponds and streams are fed by the small adjacent Yoshiki River.

Hyoshin-tei (1911) is a Tea Ceremony house for more commonly drunk “sencha" different from the Tea Ceremony house for “matcha”. The former is open and is built so that it becomes one with nature, while the latter is closed in a narrow confined room considered to be an entire universe by itself.  (Differences between sencha and matcha)

 

The building looks tuned with nature through the old handmade glasses.

The inside of the ceiling is made of smoked bamboo.

The building stands quietly facing the garden.

Many historical assets were taken into the construction of the back garden. For example, old Japanese cypress timbers of Shin-yakush-ji Temple (8th century) are used in the construction of Hyoshin-tei , which adds the weight of history to the sukiya style of building.

The “tsukubae” stone basin was once treasured and used by Hidenaga Toyotomi 400 years ago.
 

This split huge stone is two-fifths of a foundation stone once used at the seven-storied pagoda of Todai-ji Temple (8th century).

Shall we take a stroll in the garden? 

 The stepping stones were formerly used as mortars to grind the pigments used in dyeing.

While strolling, you always hear the rustling sound of water.

These photos were taken in the middle of may when azaleas were in full bloom and moss were getting greener and greener.

In 1939, Jyunsaku Nakamura (1875-1953) who made his fortune in Kobe purchased Isui-en in order to construct a museum in a historic site to host his personal collection: Chinese mirrors both Tang and Han as well as Chinese bronzes, ceramics of Japan and from Korean peninsula, and so on. He set up Neiraku Museum on its ground and made the garden as it is now.  The third-generation Nakamura, a young 25-year-old man, is preparing to be maganging and hosting as the next owner.

 

I'm fascinated with the continuance of the legacy.  Three men came to this place with the same dream in the different times and added something new to make the positive progression.
 

 

Have a look at the Deepening autumn at 依水園 Isui-en Garden.