Ritsurin Garden

Ritsurin Garden, the largest of Japan’s cultural heritage gardens designated as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty by the government, was originally built as a villa for the Matsudaira family, lords of the Takamatsu Domain. Over successive generations, the lords renovated and expanded it, bringing it to completion nearly 300 years ago. With the deeply green Shiunzan Mountain as a backdrop, six ponds and 13 man-made hills are artfully arranged throughout the grounds, and as an early Edo-period stroll garden, it is distinguished by superb layout and stone settings, and rich in the refined beauty of wood and stone.

Blessed with the changing beauty of all four seasons, the flowers that bloom here, together with the impeccably maintained 1,000 pine trees, create a varied and breathtaking landscape known as “one step, one view.”

▶ The largest cultural heritage garden in Japan!
The flat garden area of Ritsurin Garden covers about 16.2 hectares, equivalent to 3.5 Tokyo Domes. Even this alone makes it one of the largest daimyo gardens, but including the surrounding Shiunzan Mountain, the total area reaches about 75 hectares, or the size of 16 Tokyo Domes. Among gardens designated as cultural properties, it is the largest in Japan.

Daimyo gardens were designed to let visitors stroll around the ponds and enjoy a variety of scenery as they move through expansive grounds where hills and valleys are expressed through undulating terrain around large ponds. Ritsurin Garden, with its 6 ponds and 13 man-made hills on a vast site, is divided into the South Garden, which preserves the excellent layout and stonework of an early Edo-period daimyo garden, and the North Garden, which was developed as a modern park after the Meiji era. Be sure to enjoy the diverse scenery of each area.

▶ Ritsurin Garden, rich in the refined beauty of wood and stone
In the late 16th century, this was a small garden belonging to the local Sato clan, but the foundation of the vast garden was laid by civil engineering works carried out around 1631 by Nishijima Hachibei, a retainer of the Ikoma clan who governed the area. Garden development was then taken over by Matsudaira Yorishige, the first lord of the Takamatsu Domain, who began ruling Takamatsu in 1642. More than 100 years later, the garden was completed in 1745 during the reign of Yoritaka, the fifth lord. Thereafter, successive lords continued to renovate it, and for 228 years until the Meiji Restoration it was used as an upper villa by the Takamatsu Matsudaira family.

In 1875, it was opened to the public as a prefectural park, and in 1953 it was designated a Special Place of Scenic Beauty, a status given to sites of exceptional cultural value. According to an elementary school textbook published at the end of the Meiji era, Ritsurin Garden was said to possess a more elegant charm in its trees and stones than Kairakuen in Mito, Kenrokuen in Kanazawa, and Korakuen in Okayama, the three famous gardens of Japan.

▶ A true “national treasure of gardens,” showcasing Edo-period garden craftsmanship!
There are 24 gardens nationwide designated as Special Places of Scenic Beauty, which can be regarded as “national treasures of gardens,” and 13 of them are in Kyoto, most of which are “static-view” gardens designed to be appreciated from a fixed viewpoint. In contrast, Ritsurin Garden follows the “pond-stroll” style that flourished in the Edo period, with ponds and artificial hills arranged across the spacious grounds so that visitors can enjoy changing scenery while walking through the garden. Its diversity is so great that it is said to offer “one step, one view,” with the landscape changing at every pace.

The beauty of the seasons, akin to the aesthetics of wabi and sabi
Another appeal of Ritsurin Garden, with its diverse and exquisite “one step, one view” design, is the opportunity to savor the beauty of aging that has accumulated over nearly 400 years since its creation. The ever-changing forms of nature through the seasons also allow visitors to feel the passage of time, and within that profound world lies a subtle beauty beyond what is merely visible—a beauty of mystery and depth.

▶ Three stars recognized by the world!
Ritsurin Garden has been awarded the top three-star rating in the French travel guide Michelin Green Guide Japon, meaning it is “worth making a special trip for.” It was first included in March 2009.

It was also ranked No. 3 in the 2011 Japan Garden Rankings by an American magazine specializing in Japanese gardens, in recognition of the high quality of the garden itself, especially the beauty of its pine trees. Furthermore, in June 2016, it was selected as No. 15 in “Popular Tourist Spots with Foreign Visitors 2016.”

* “Popular Tourist Spots with Foreign Visitors 2016” was selected by TripAdvisor K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of one of the world’s largest travel sites, TripAdvisor, which supports everything from booking to trip planning, based on foreign-language reviews posted on TripAdvisor between April 2015 and March 2016.

In March 2015, Ritsurin Garden also formed a sister-garden partnership with the gardens of The Huntington in the United States.

▶ First the bark, then the branches, then the form
The key points for appreciating pine trees are said to be “first the bark, then the branches, then the form.” The bark refers to the surface of the trunk. It reveals the tree’s age, its ruggedness, its twists and turns, and above all the strength of life that has survived by enduring the harshness of nature. Next comes the branch structure, and finally the overall form of the tree. Once you can feel the greatness of life in the pine’s posture, you have truly developed a mature eye for beauty.

Keeping these points in mind will make strolling through Ritsurin Garden even more enjoyable. “Tsuru-Kame Matsu,” a pine that rises above stonework reminiscent of a turtle and is shaped like a crane in flight, is said to be the most beautiful tree in the garden. “Hako Matsu,” with its superbly continuous form, is truly a work of art, as its name suggests, shaped like a box. “Neagari Goyomatsu,” a five-needle pine grown from a bonsai bestowed by the shogunate and now reaching about 8 meters in height with a trunk circumference of about 3.5 meters, has an imposing presence. These three great pines of Ritsurin Garden are a must-see.

▶ Creating a rich variety of garden scenery
In daimyo gardens, unusual stones are placed around ponds and on islands to create the garden scenery. In Ritsurin Garden, there is an anecdote from the time of Matsudaira Yoritsune, the second lord of the Takamatsu Domain, that to help the local people suffering from prolonged drought, villagers were asked to bring in trees and stones, and in return they were given food and other necessities. The stones that were then placed in the garden are said to include “Mikaeri Shishi,” which looks like a lion turning to look back, and “Botan-ishi,” which resembles a peony flower.

Other features include “Shofuda,” created during the Muromachi period and said to be the birthplace of Ritsurin Garden, where 110 stones in the central area, 15 on the eastern side, and 17 on the western side form a man-made hill; and one of the islands floating in Nanko Pond, called “Sengi,” is modeled after Horai Island from Chinese legend, said to be the home of immortals, evoking the rugged mountain ranges of China often depicted in ink paintings. Each stone placed in the garden has its own story, and uncovering those stories is part of the enjoyment.