Other Japanese gardens-3

Tea 

In spite of the turbulent times the economy prospered from the 12^th century onward. The expansion of agriculture and the forming of guilds led to an increase of production, which was advantageous for a new class of citizen: the merchants. The trade with other countries, especially China, grew. The copper coins with which China paid Japan for swords, fans and raw copper became a useful currency. From China came silks, ceramics and tea. 
The Japanese Zen master Eisai (1141-1215) was not the first to see the qualities of tea, but he brought with him from China seeds of the tea plant and he became an advocate of drinking tea as a means to a long and healthy life. The abbot Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481) taught his student Murata Shuko (1422-1502) that Buddhism and tea could well go together. Shuko developed the tea ceremony into an art form to be practiced in special tea houses, often very small and simple. The next  renown tea teacher was Takeno Joo (1502-1555). He came from a wealthy family of tanners in Sakai, now Ōsaka. This circumstance shows clearly how important the tea ceremony was thought to be. For tanners belonged to the undermost social stratum and were avoided by other people. Takeno Joo was the teacher of Sen no Rikyū (1521-1591). Rikyū was born to a wealthy merchant family of Sakai. As a valued tea master he became politically involved with the pre-shōguns Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who were both admirers of him. 

The tea ceremony has influenced the development of garden art directly and indirectly. After the death of Rikyū, who had fallen into disgrace and was “allowed” to commit seppuku, Hideyoshi started to lay out in Kyōto the garden at Sambō-in, a sub-temple of Daigo-ji (1598). It was here that he held his famous cherry blossom viewing party for the emperor. Not long thereafter he became ill and died. Hideyoshi was the richest and most powerful man of his time. But because of his low birth he wanted to impress, to make sure that he belonged to the cultural elite. The tea ceremony and the making of spectacular gardens were very appropriate for this end. The influence of Rikyū on the style of the garden can not be traced with certainty, but there are some tea houses. The power and wealth of Hideyoshi show in the impressive rocks, partly given to him by vassals, partly just confiscated, and in the beautiful buildings. Work at the garden continued during 20 years after Hideyoshi’s death. The actual work was done by Kentei, a kawaramono (kawaramono = riverbank people, perhaps he was sometimes called niwamono = gardenmaker). It is likely that he put in quite a lot of his own ideas.

The garden was meant to be enjoyed both by strolling and by looking at it from the buildings. Nowadays an ordinary visitor of course is kept to the veranda’s of the buildings. What a pity it is that it is strictly forbidden to take photographs! During our stay in Japan in 1998 we had planned on visiting Sambō-in, but when we arrived there it turned out to be a day for tea ceremonies and we were not allowed to enter. Waiting and standing outside the then entrance, we could make some pictures of the nearby parts. Unfortunately it was a hazy day as is to be seen below. But everything looked so beautiful that we went again in 2003. Then we enjoyed sitting and walking on the veranda’s and we tried to imprint the views in our minds. The garden is extraordinary in clearly demonstrating enormous power and wealth without being pompous. It is a beauty and a treasure. Perhaps it is nice to know that sambō means three treasures, i.e. the three treasures of Buddhism: Buddha, the doctrine and the priesthood. Now in itself it is a fourth treasure.  

 

    

Katsura Rikyū is dating from the same time (1616-1660). The founder is prince Toshihito, who was a brother of the emperor Goyōzei. As a child he was adopted by Hideyoshi. When Hideyoshi got a son himself, he brushed him aside with a gift of a piece of land (not the area of Katsura). After the death of Toshihito in 1629 the villa became dilapidated. When his son prince Toshitada married a daughter of lord Maeda sufficient financial resources were tapped to reconstruct and expand the villa. Katsura covers a little less than 7 hectares. It is a stroll garden with elements of the tea garden, in the style of Kobori Enshū (1579-1647). Walking through the garden over the different beautiful paths one sees a succession of “pictures”, carefully composed. Famous from many photos is the suhama or cobbled seashore with the small stone lantern on the tip. This suhama does not symbolize the spit of land Ama-no-hashidate as often is thought. Ama-no-hashidate is considered one of the three most famous landscapes in Japan. It is a very, very narrow peninsula, in Katsura represented by two small elongated islands connected by a natural stone bridge.

Because taking photos is prohibited we show the only picture postcard we could find.  

Katsura Rikyū:    Shōken-tei, "Amanohashidate" and suhama (postcard)	Amanohashidate	Kōrin-in

 

There is a charming tea garden at the temple Kōrin-in in the Daitoku-ji complex. Approximately 1520. The path is informal and inviting. But on our photo you see lying on one of the stepping stones a stone with a rope tied around it, a tome-ishi. That means that you are not allowed to go any further. 

Sentō Gosho, 1633, lies in the centre of Kyōto. It was the palace for the retired emperor. Next to it was Ōmiya Gosho, a palace for the empress dowager. The last palace is still there; not the first one because after the sixth fire there was no retired emperor living. The total area covers 9 hectares. The garden was designed by Kobori Enshū, the most celebrated designer of his time (1579-1647). Here again large ponds, different landscapes and a number of tea houses. A familiar element resumed in the early Edo time is the cobble beach representing a seashore. Walking around the lakes one sees mass and space, survey and detail alternating beautifully. The garden has a dignified air but is also moving. One would like to stay longer… In comparison with the Upper Garden of Shūgakuin Rikyū that shows affinity, a walk here is diverse and an adventure.

 

At the foot of mount Hiei which gives shelter to Kyōto in the northeast, lies Shūgakuin Rikyū, the villa of the retired emperor Gomizunoo. The construction took place between 1652 and 1666. It consists of three parts on different elevations, separated by rice fields. The Lower Garden is unattractive, it has not a clear concept and the stones are standing ón not in the earth. The Middle Garden appealed even less to us. The many small stones give an untidy appearance. But then the Upper Garden: grand! A large pond, three islands and bridges, splendid trees and few but large rocks, used to great effect. The panoramic view from Rin-un-tei (pavilion of the nearby clouds) is a well-known image. The immense expanse of sky frames the lake and Kyōto beyond, a technique called shakkei or ikedori (catching alive).   

 

Gardens and Zen 

Zen ideas were already known in Japan in the Nara period, but as a separate school it arose in the Kamakura period. The power of the emperor is curtailed; the samurai, warlords and shōguns feel attracted to the more plain, austere life style of Zen. It also underlines their feeling of a necessity only to rely upon themselves. And, by founding Zen temples and controlling these, they are able to restrict the power and riches of the older temples and monasteries.
The minimalism that characterizes the new establishment, finds its expression in many of the gardens from these periods.

On page 2 we show a picture of Tenju-an, built in 1338 as a memory to the founder of Nanzen-ji. The old path, east of the main hall, is embedded in moss that must have come into being in later times. It is part now of a rock or Zen garden made in the 19^th century. The southern garden dates from the 14^th century and despite of a lot of remodelling in the 17^th and 19^th century it still retains the original flavour of the type hill-pond-island-bridge. 

 

 

Sesshū-ji (1321), original name Funda-in, in Tōfuku-ji. The garden was designed by the famous priest and painter Sesshū (1420-1506). A long time in decline, but in the 20^th century renewed thanks to the garden architects Mirei Shigemori and Kinsaku Nakane (about these two important men more further on). A fine building with on three sides gardens with moss and small rocks. On the east side a Hōrai composition. On the west a steep streamlet with many small stones in a thin grove. On the south side a turtle island and a crane island lie in a carpet of moss. Between moss and building is a nantei with gravel. The whole makes a soft and rounded impression. We had expected something more jagged from the painter Sesshū! Hand high in the sliding paper doors (shōji) they had put some dried fronds and grass leaves, an idea that we liked very much.   

The Zen garden of Ryōan-ji (end 15^th century) has a much greater fame than the garden below with the large lake (see page 1). It is said to have been designed by Sōami, a painter and garden maker who died in 1525, but there are doubts about that. It is a karesansui of a little more than 300 m²  with white gravel and a stone arrangement of 7-5-3 rocks. The wall around it is made of clay boiled in oil. In time the oil seeping through the clay has made peculiar patterns. The garden is on the edge of a steep slope. Once one could see through the upper half of well-trimmed pine-trees behind the wall the hill Otokoyama. Now you see the crowns of cherry blossom trees. They make a perfect setting for the garden. We found it almost unbelievable that a garden so famous, having to digest so many visitors, still could have so much magic. Perhaps it was because we were there at eight o’clock in the morning, just three people for a whole quarter of an hour.  

 Raikyū-ji in Takahashi. It is not known how old the temple is, but it was renovated in 1339 and 1504. In 1604 Kobori Enshū came to live here to be safe for a fierce war. In this 650 m² garden he used azalea and camellia bushes to evoke a feeling of undulating waves in a sea of sandy gravel. The turtle and crane islands are so positioned that they mirror mount Atago in the background. The garden along the shoin with gravel and a path is thought to be typical for Enshū. The whole is designed with minute attention to fine points and it is kept in its original form through the ages.   

Chishaku-in. Rebuilt in 1674 on the spot of a former garden from the late 16^th century. The garden does not fit easily into a category. The steep hillside to the east contains a dry waterfall with a small slightly bent bridge. The water of the pond flows directly beneath the shoin and its expanse makes it dominating. One feels a clash of concepts. We do not know who made the garden and the ideas behind it. Not very long ago they made the dry waterfall actually to run water. One theory says that the pond could be meant as a reservoir of water to fight the frequent fires. There was a devastating fire in 1682. Anyway, the garden is very well kept, the rocks are beautiful and the expanse of silent water is daring. We liked very much the often pictured chōzu-bachi in which the water mirrors the pond.