Pine Gardens of the Takatori Mansion

 

Takatori Koreyoshi (1850-1927) is described as a coal baron as he ran the successfil Kishima coal mine.

In 1904 he built a big residence near the beach in Karatsu. It was enlarged in early Showa.

Externally and internally the mansion combines elements of both Japanese and Western architectural styles and features.

Karatsu City bought the property and opened it to the public. In 1998 it was registered as an Important Cultural Property.

I didn't pay the entry fee to tour the interior, but photos I'v since seen look interesting. I did however wander the rather extensive grounds.

The dominant planting was pine trees and was fairly open.

However there does appear to be a courtyard garden in the middle of the main buildings, and another garden hidden away by fences that seems to have a small pond.

I suspect that viewed from inside the buikdings the gardens would be quite appealing.

The previous post in thise series exploring Karatsu was on the nearby Uzumemon no Yakata samurai-style building.

Meriken Park Kobe

 

Meriken Park is a waterfront park in Kobe that is a major tourist attraction because of the many tourist sites in the vicinity. The BE KOBE logo is apparently what is known as an Instagrammable spot. This was taken quite a few years ago and when I was there last year people were lining up to have their photos taken there.

The harbour around Meriken ark is home to numerous cruises around the bay as well as a cruise ship terminal and a spot for various big visiting ships.

Meriken was the Japanese pronunciation for America back in the Meiji Era when Kobe was one of the main sites of foreign settlement. The Oriental Hotel with its distinctive curved architecture is one of the landmarks.

In front of the Oriental Hotel are a couple of wedding halls, one all glass and reflective pools of water, the other with an overhead lattice that is prime for the kind of photos I like to take.

Long term readers of this blog will have seen different pics of this piece of architecture before....

Perhaps the most iconic sight at Meriken Park is the Kobe Port Tower.

For some time it has been undergoing renovations, but I believe it is once again open to the public.

Another of the architectural marvels that intrigues me at Meriken Park is the Maritime Museum, but I will save that for the next post as I went inside and explored.

This visit was on the 4th day of my walk along the Kinki Fudo Myo Pilgrimage, and after reaching Kobe I spent the rest of the day exploring as a tourist...

The previous post was on Sorakuen Garden.

Uzumemon no Yakata Karatsu

 

While walking in central Karatsu I came across Uzememon no Yakata and as it had free entry went inside.

It is a type of community centre for local people to have classes in various traditional Japanese arts and crafts.

Subjects such as Tea Ceremony, Ikebana, various types of music and dance and also Noh theatre.

The building is built in the style of a fairly high-ranking samurai residence.

It is not actually a reconstruction or rebuilding of an actual building that existed though.

Most visitors think it is though.

There is a minimal style garden around the building with Black Pine and Maples.

I visited on day 73 of my first walk around Kyushu. The previous post was on the huge floats of the Karatsu Kunchi Festival.

Izumo Mansion & Izumo-style Garden

 

The Izumo Mansion was formerly the residence of the Ezumi family, a wealthy farming family of the Izumo region.

Their main house was dismantled and reassembled within the grounds of what is now the Izumo Cultural Heritage Museum, located between downtown Izumo and the Izumo Taisha area.

As well as moving the substantial house, they also moved the very large garden.

The Nagayamon, gatehouse, was also relocated and serves as the entrance to the museum compound.

The garden is very large and is  a dry garden with large areas of white gravel.

It can be viewed from the southern, shoin, room of the mansion.

It was a stroll-type garden, but unfortunately cannot be entered, only viewed from the house.

It is planted mostly with evergreen shrubs and trees, including a lot of black pine.

The arrangement of stepping stones is in the Izumo-style.

The house was originally built in 1896, and all the rooms can be explored.

Next door is a restaurant that offers a different view of the garden.

The Izumo Cultural Heritage Museum has exhibits on Izumo crafts and offers workshops. Two large, modern galleries show interesting temporary exhibits that require an entrance fee. I saw a fantastic exhibition of yokai prints and paintings here. The mansion and gardens are free to enter.

For garden enthusiasts there is an extra bonus here, a replica of a teahouse by Sen no Rikyu once owned by the famed Matsue tea master Fumai, with a series of gardens including one designed by Fumai himself. I will post pictures of that next.

The previous post in this series exploring the delights of Izumo and Matsue was on Jozan Inari Shrine.

Sasebo Port Revisited

 

On my last day in Sasebo I went back and visited the recently redeveloped port and harbour area.

I had been based in Sasebo for a week and each day took the local trains out into the surrounding areas of northern Nagasaki and western Saga visiting a cluster of temples on the Kyushu 108 temple pilgrimage.

Lots of interesting architecture but not a lot of people.

Sasebo is a major naval port for both Japan and the USA.

I did post earlier on this area like this one on Sasebo port, and this one on the ferry terminal.

The previous post was on some interesting buildings nearby.

This was the end of day 71 of my walk and the next day I headed north on the final week's worth of walking to complete the pilgrimage up in Munakata Fukuoka.