Kenroku-en
Encyclopedia
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.-Geography, climate, and population:Kanazawa sits on the Sea of Japan, bordered by the Japan Alps, Hakusan National Park and Noto Peninsula National Park. The city sits between the Sai and Asano rivers. Its total area is 467.77 km².Kanazawa's...
, Ishikawa
Ishikawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshū island. The capital is Kanazawa.- History :Ishikawa was formed from the merger of Kaga Province and the smaller Noto Province.- Geography :Ishikawa is on the Sea of Japan coast...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, is an old private garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
. Along with Kairaku-en
Kairaku-en
is a Japanese garden located in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan. Along with Kenroku-en and Koraku-en, it is considered one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan. Kairakuen was built relatively recently in the year 1841 by the local lord Tokugawa Nariaki...
and Koraku-en
Koraku-en
, is a Japanese garden located in Okayama, Okayama Prefecture. It is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan, along with Kenroku-en and Kairaku-en. Korakuen was built in 1700 by Ikeda Tsunamasa, lord of Okayama. The garden's form almost had turned into the modern form in 1863.- History :In 1687,...
, Kenroku-en is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan
Three Great Gardens of Japan
The , also known as "the three most famous gardens in Japan" are considered to include Kenroku-en in Kanazawa, Koraku-en in Okayama and Kairaku-en in Mito....
.
The grounds are open year-round during daylight hours and famous for its beauty in all seasons; an admission fee is charged.
History
Kenroku-en was developed from the 1620s to the 1840s by the Maeda clanMaeda clan
The was a branch of the Sugawara clan who descended from Sugawara no Kiyotomo and Sugawara no Michizane in the eighth and ninth centuries. It was one of the most powerful samurai families in Japan and they were second only to the Tokugawa clan in rice production and fief size...
, the daimyo
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
who ruled the former Kaga Domain
Kaga Domain
The was a powerful feudal domain in Kaga, Noto and Etchū Provinces of Japan during the Edo period. The domain was founded by Maeda Toshiie and headed by the Maeda clan. Its income rating, over 1,000,000 koku, was the highest in the nation after the Tokugawa shogunate itself...
.
The garden is located outside the gates of Kanazawa Castle
Kanazawa Castle
is a large, well-restored castle in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located adjacent to the celebrated Kenroku-en Garden, which once formed the castle's private outer garden.-History and description:...
where it originally formed the outer garden, and covers 114,436.65 m² (over 25 acres). It began in 1676 when the 5th lord Maeda Tsunanori
Maeda Tsunanori
was a Japanese daimyo of the early Edo period who ruled the Kaga Domain....
moved his administration to the castle and began to landscape a garden in this vicinity. This garden was, however, destroyed by fire in 1759.
The garden restoration was begun in 1774 by the 11th lord Harunaga
Maeda Harunaga
' was a Japanese daimyo of the mid-Edo period, who ruled the Kaga domain.He was the restorer of Kenroku-en and the founder of the Kaga domain's school, Meirin-dō....
, who created the Emerald Waterfall (Midori-taki) and Yugao-tei, a teahouse. Improvements continued in 1822 when the 12th lord Narinaga
Maeda Narinaga
' was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period who ruled the Kaga domain. He was the second son of the 9th Kaga lord, Shigemichi...
created the garden's winding streams with water drawn from the Tatsumi Waterway. The 13th lord Nariyasu
Maeda Nariyasu
' was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period who ruled the Kaga Domain.-Biography:Nariyasu was born in Kanazawa in 1811, the 2nd son of the Kaga lord, Maeda Narinaga. His childhood name was Katsuchiyo...
subsequently added more streams and expanded the Kasumi Pond. With this, the garden's current form was complete. The garden was opened to the public on May 7, 1874.
The garden was named by Matsudaira Sadanobu
Matsudaira Sadanobu
Japanese daimyo of the mid-Edo period, famous for his financial reforms which saved the Shirakawa Domain, and the similar reforms he undertook during his tenure as chief senior councilor of the Tokugawa Shogunate, from 1787 to 1793....
at the request of Narinaga. Its name was derived from the "Chronicles of the Famous Luoyang
Luoyang
Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...
Gardens" (洛陽名園記), a book by the Chinese poet Li Gefei (李格非), and stands for the six attributes of a perfect landscape: spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, waterways, and panoramas.
Features
Kenroku-en contains roughly 8,750 trees, and 183 species of plants in total. Among the garden's points of special interest are- the oldest fountain in Japan, operating by natural water pressure.
- Yūgao-tei, a teahouse, the oldest building in the garden, built 1774
- Shigure-tei, a rest House that was originally built by the 5th lord Tsunanori, reconstructed at its present location in 2000
- Karasaki Pine, planted from seed by the 13th lord Nariyasu from Karasaki, near Lake BiwaLake Biwais the largest freshwater lake in Japan, located in Shiga Prefecture , northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Because of its proximity to the ancient capital, references to Lake Biwa appear frequently in Japanese literature, particularly in poetry and in historical accounts of battles.-...
. - Kotoji-tōrōTōrōA "灯篭" is just a simplified form of "灯籠". is a Japanese lantern made of stone, wood, or metal traditional in the Far East. In China extant specimen are very rare, and in Korea too they are not as common as in Japan. In Japan, tōrō were originally used only in Buddhist temples, where they lined and...
, a stone lantern with two legs, said to resemble the bridge on a kotoKoto (musical instrument)The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...
. This lantern is emblematic of Kenroku-en and Kanazawa. - Flying Geese Bridge (Gankō-bashi), made of eleven red stones, laid out to resemble geese in a flying formation
- Kaiseki Pagoda, said to have been donated to the Maeda by Toyotomi HideyoshiToyotomi Hideyoshiwas a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...
In winter, the park is notable for its yukitsuri
Yukitsuri
Yukitsuri is a technique for preserving trees and shrubs from heavy snow. Trees are given extra support by bamboo poles with ropes attached to limbs; whereas, shrubs are often tied tightly around the circumference. Yukitsuri is a common sight in Kanazawa and Kenrokuen Garden during the winter...
— ropes attached in a conical array to carefully support tree branches in the desired arrangements, thereby protecting the trees from damage caused by heavy snows.
20th century development
The Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of ArtIshikawa Prefectural Museum of Art
, also known as IPMA, is the main art gallery of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The collection includes some of the prefecture's most important cultural assets and works by artists with some connection to the region. It is located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa within the grounds of the Kenrokuen Garden.The...
(IPMA) is located within the grounds of the Kenrokuen Garden.