Other Japanese gardens-4

The Meiji period and later 

In 1854 the Shogunate that exerted power in Japan, was forced to enter into a treaty of friendship with the United States of America and to open the country for the western powers. Younger samurai and sympathizers with the emperor saw this as proof that the shōgun could not defend their country and they staged a coup. In 1867 Mutsuhito became emperor (Meiji-tennō). Gradually the call for chasing away the “barbarians” died down and was replaced by the wish to adopt the western civilization and the Enlightenment. The emperor recaptured political power and continued to be regarded as divine, but the culture underwent strong western influences. Nearly all famous literature became translated, and there was great interest in the arts of painting, sculpture and architecture.
In 1871 a law was enacted that turned many old gardens of temples and villas into public parks. They often were in bad condition and the repair was undertaken with gusto. People were sent to Europe to study the ins and outs of western parks. Often the result was a hodgepodge, as still can be seen in Shinjuku-gyo-en in Tōkyō. 

There are more successful examples like Kōraku-en in Okayama. This park has been constructed between 1687 and 1863 by several generations daimyō, at the foot of the hill on which their castle still stands. Initially there were many rice fields and a tea plantation and they also kept animals such as cranes. Until 1871 the garden’s name was Kōen, “later garden”, because the garden was built after the castle. Since the garden was built in the spirit of “grieve earlier than others, enjoy later than others”, the name was changed to Kōraku-en. The circumstance of being designed with much open space (the rice fields) makes that the large expanses of grass look quite natural. Very special is the Ryūten, a pavilion through which flows a streamlet. Here the daimyō used to rest after a stroll through the garden. Poetry festivals as mentioned at “elements” (Other Japanese gardens-1) still take place here.  

 

At the end of the 19^th century there was little knowledge about and little appreciation of the old garden culture. Many ancient gardens stayed dilapidated, sometimes the stones were sold. Abstraction and symbolism, so characteristic for the older gardens, were discarded and replaced by realistic naturalism: landscapes were imitated now. This way of doing can nevertheless lead to a happy result as Murin-an shows. It was built during the years 1894-1896. Designed by the owner, marshal and statesman Aritomo Yamagata, in cooperation with Jihei Ogawa. Ogawa (1860-1932), was a famous garden designer who also made, among other things, the garden at Heian-Jingū. Murin-an covers 3135 m² and is dedicated to one theme: a stream in a practically flat pasture. (The theme of a stream in a flat grassland or meadow is already mentioned in the Sakutei-ki.) The garden is east-west oriented on a gentle slope, has a  three-tiered waterfall in the east, and the Higashiyama hills as shakkei. The stream broadens at two points to form ponds in the shape of sweet potatoes. From no point  the course of the water can be overlooked completely, so the garden seems much larger than it actually is. The stones of different sizes have been used  in an optimal way. Trees and shrubs edge the garden, there is not one thing from in- or outside that disturbs. 
The garden writer Masaaki Ono: “This garden abounds with a carefree and progressive atmosphere.” We think that the secret of its success lies in the fearless concentration of effort on one image. One idea that its maker had in mind. It is a really unique garden.   

 

 

Most gardens of the Meiji period belong to private villa’s. The repair and maintenance of which we spoke above, did not go for the majority of the old temple gardens. Between the two world wars the tide turned, not in the last place by the efforts of the garden architect and historian Mirei Shigemori (1896-1975). Unfortunately little has been translated of his collected writings, but in Japan they certainly were influential. At a number of temples Shigemori has renewed the gardens radically. Sometimes he kept himself to still existing old plans or drawings, sometimes he made a whole new design. Being a historian he could distance himself from the subjects he wrote about, and indicate the inherent qualities. His work always shows the touch of the master. He chose the best from the past, applied it in a modern way and so that one recognizes the individual genius almost at once. In addition to the historical places Shigemori has made totally new gardens. We did not have the opportunity yet to see them in reality.

We discuss three gardens. 

Reiun-in (Tōfuku-ji).  The temple dates from 1390. The seventh abbot Shosetsu became from daimyō Tadatoshi Mitsuhisa the Iai-seki, a stone that symbolizes Mount Shumisen ( the central mountain in Buddhist cosmology). Tadatoshi gave it to him by way of thanks for his manner during the so-called Christian Rebellion of Shimabara in 1637.  In 1970 Mirei Shigemori reconstructed the garden in accordance with a picture from the late Edo period. To know the name of the temple is helpful to understand the inspiration for the garden. Reiun-in means: Temple of a strange, high cloud. 
There are two gardens. The garden on the west side of the small shoin is called Ga-un no tei, that means: Garden of the cloud bending down. It is believed that when the Buddha Amida comes (from the west) to save the world, the clouds will be purple, so that will be a congratulatory sign. Directly below the veranda is a border of red concrete in the shape of a cloud. Next to it is a scallop filled with course brown sand. Then there is white gravel symbolizing innocent water moving towards the large sea. The white gravel runs into the garden on the south, where in the middle of a sea of gravel the Iai-seki (cherished stone) stands in a large bowl on a rock. The south garden is called Nine mountains, eight seas, or Rei no tei or Garden of the cherished stone. In the west garden is a dry waterfall and a small bridge. In both gardens are artificial hills carpeted with moss, there are some trees, some clipped bushes and very beautiful stones. In the corner is a rather tall and impressive one.
When you look at the ingredients you could quite easily draw the conclusion that the garden is kitschy, but it is not. It is a very honest attempt to express a sincere belief. The only marginal comment we have is on the large number of lanterns (ten!) and the three pagodas. These cannot all have been intended by Shigemori.   

 

Ga-un-no-tei	Garden of the Iai-seki	the tall stone in the corner

Tōfuku-ji, hōjō-teien. The hōjō, one of the main buildings in this temple, founded in 1235, was reconstructed in 1890. The four gardens around it were made by Mirei Shigemori in 1939. 

West :	In the northwest corner are azalea-shrubs trimmed in a chequered pattern. The space is covered with white sand. The inspiration came from the rice  fields. The pattern is called: ida-ichimatsu.
North:	Square cut stones lie in a carpet of moss. Left in a chequered pattern, to the right fanned out into less stones and more moss, changing into sand. The name: o-ichimatsu.
East :	In raked gravel seven cylindrical pillars (used foundation stones)  representing the main stars of the Big Dipper.
South:	Raked gravel, four rock compositions symbolizing the islands of the immortals, five moss covered hills standing for the five most important Buddhist temples of the Kamakura period. The raked gravel is called Hakkai, meaning the eight seas. The garden is surrounded by a whitewashed wall of loam, circa 3 m high.

  The south garden can readily be called a milestone in modern garden architecture. The dark rocks are very impressive and contrast strongly with the green hills. Shigemori clearly tries to combine something of the western influence of abstract art with the minimalism of Zen. The precise defined content of the component parts is somewhat in contradiction with the essence of abstract art and turns a little against the garden. Why are the rocks so dark and jagged when they are intended to symbolize the islands of the immortal saints? Weren’t they thought to be happy always?  

 

 

 

  Zuihō-in. Founded as a Buddhist monastery by Sōrin Ōtomo (1530-1589). In 1578 he became a fanatic Christian. In the following years the ambitious Ōtomo made many victims under Buddhist monks and nuns and destroyed quite a number of Buddhist temples and monasteries. Since his death the requiem sutra for the salvation of his soul is read here.
In 1961 Mirei Shigemori designed two gardens in memory of Ōtomo, one with Buddhist, the other with Christian symbolism. Both gardens consist of raked gravel, slight slopes covered with moss, and rocks, many of them vertical. The Garden of the Cross lies north of the hōjō. The position of the stones indicate a cross. This theme, although inviting to symmetry, is worked out asymmetrically. The cross lies more or less diagonally. Along one of the long sides of the garden moss-carpeted slopes lie stretched out. In the leaflet of Zuihō-in we find the following sentence: “For the garden architect, Calvary is essentially a cross burdened on the multitude of the world symbolized by numberless grains of sand.” 
The south garden is named Zuihō-tei, the Garden of the Auspicious Peak or Mountain. Against a trimmed plant structure forming a right angle, is a group of rocks on and near a low hill covered with moss. The tallest vertical stone is standing in the corner, this must be the auspicious peak. The waves in the raked gravel become higher nearing the rocks. It gives a feeling of a very dynamical movement towards the highest point, even on the verge of agitation.
Between the buildings, as so often in temples and monasteries, there is a tiny enclosed garden or tsubo. It could be of Shigemori, we do not know for sure. On the photo in the rear is a compact group of stones, accompanied this time not by ferns or a bamboo, but by Equisetum.

 

 

We here draw attention to Saburō Sone, a garden architect of the second half of the 20^th century. He made an impressive stone composition before the entrance of Tenryū-ji (Other Japanese gardens-2). 

In 1998 we discovered in Ōtsu Port a creation of the artist Bukichi Inoue (1930-1997). He himself called it Suimen e no kairō, Biwa-ko : Gallery or corridor to the water, Lake Biwa. It was finished in the year of his too early death. When we stood there, we were not aware of the fact that it is a part of a rather large “park”, called by the citizens of Ōtsu: Shinboru ryokuchi kōen, Symbol of wooded area park. But we found out by asking Ōtsu City and the International Affairs Division was very friendly and helpful to us.   

Suimen e no kairō consists of two rows of granite columns, a paving of large square granite stones and a row of small trees. The trees, Lagerstroemia indica, have a beautiful bark, especially showy in autumn and winter when the leaves have fallen. 
It is a garden in a very elementary form: trees in the embracement of pillars. In the home country of the Zen-garden the questions: what is a garden and when is something a garden, have been asked again and answered.

The design is a pure translation of the thought and the proportions are very pleasant.              

Fascinated we stand still before the corridor. 

Shall we walk to the water?   

 

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