The Garden at Kokokuji Temple

 

The top ranked garden in Japan, according to the Journal of Japanese Gardening, is consistently the Adachi Museum Gardens in Shimane.

Other gardens in Shimane are in the list of top Japanese gardens, including this one at Kokuji Temple near Hirata in the Izumo area.

In 2005 it was ranked 8th, and in 2006 it was ranked 12th.

And yet it is barely known and rarely visited.

Kokokuji is a Rinzai temple founded in the 14th century.

The garden, however, was created in the early 19th century.

It is a relatively small garden consisting primarily of a dry garden with Kinkyoike, a small resevoir behind it.

The borrowed scenery is completed with Mount Tabushi and the Kitayama mountains behind.

The garden was designed by Sawa Gentan, the gardener employed by the great Tea Master Fumai Matsudaira who ruled the Matsue Domain.

Many other gardens in the area are said to have been designed by Sawa Gentan, including the magnificent ones at Hirata Honjin, literally just a couple of kilometers away. Several gardens at the Izumo Cultural Heritage Museum, and the Gesshoji Temple Garden are also attributed to Fumai and Gentan

The small entrance fee to view the garden includes a green tea and sweet, photo 3 above.

This, and many other gardens in the region are known as Izumo Style, and sometimes Gentan Style.

One of the features of Izumo style is that the stepping stones are a combination of round and rectangular.

Another feature mentioned by many is that an Izumo style garden will be a combination of a traditional garden and a Teahouse garden.

Hidden away on the right hand side of the garden here is a teahouse, and the stone path leads to it.

There are a lot of other gardens in the Matsue and Izumo region, including many I have not covered yet. If yiu are interested please let me know. Yuushien, Meimei-an Teahouse, Lafcadio Hearns House, Yakumo Honjin, and the several already mentioned earlier, are just a few already covered...

Next I will cover Kokokuji Temple itself....

A Daimyo Garden at Hirata Honjin

 

Honjin were a kind of lodgings used by daimyo, feudal lords, as they travelled around their domain. They were usyually the homes of wealthy merchants or farmers who could provide the luxury that the daimyo needed.

One such honjin is in Hirata, near the shore of Lake Shinji in Shimane, the former Matsue Domain. The honjin was the home of the wealthy Honkisa family who made their money from cotton and sake and for which Hirata was known. For the Matsue lords one of the facilities needed seems to have been a nice garden.

I am by no means an expert, but it seems to me that the stone pathways, or tobi-ishi, in Izumo-style gardens are somewhat more prominent. I have read that one distinguishing feature of Izumo-style gardens is the combination of rounded and rectilinear stones.

The honjin and its garden were actually relocated to its current spot. Hirata is also home to a unique type of art called Isshiki Kazari and I highly recommend checking out these recent posts on it.

Some topical Isshiki Kazari

The first prize winner at this years Isshiki Kazari competition in Hirata near Izumo was a tableau representing the Horanenya festival in Matsue. This boat festival is one of the top 3 boat festivals in all of Japan and is only held once every 12 years. It was held earlier this year.

The vast majority of Isshiki kazari artworks use ceramics as their raw material, and the three pieces I show today are no exception.

Coming up in a few weeks is the Rugby World Cup, being held for the first time ever in Japan. Actually, I'm quite looking forward to it though I am not particularly a big fan, but it will be a nice change from the usual boring sports that dominate the airwaves here.

It is still a year to go until the Tokyo Olympics but already I'm sick of hearing about it. Seems like not a day has gone by since before the Rio Olympics that we are not inundated with media about Tokyo Olympics. It was inevitable that the IsshikiKazari competition had one piece with the theme...

Izumo No Okuni: 2nd Prize 2019 Isshiki Kazari

Izumo no Okuni was the legendary creator of Kabuki. Originally from Izumo, no-one knows for sure when or where she died. A temple in Kyoto claims her tomb, but Izumo also claims she returned here and became a devout Buddhist and died here.

This rendition of her is done in Isshiki Kazari, a folk art that originates from Hirata near Izumo City. Every year a competition is held in the town and displays are put up all around the old part of town. Some are displayed in shop windows, but the winners are usually displayed in tableau form in other spaces.

In this years competition it won second prize.

Isshiki Kazari Komainu

Isshiki Kazari is a unique form of folk art that origjnated in Hirata up in Izumo. The essence of the art is that sculptures are made out of everyday objects. Nothing too original in that, but its the further rules that make it so. The objects cannot be broken, drilled, nor glued. Afterwards the sculpture can be disaseembled and the objects returned to use.

Ceramics are the prime material, but not the only material for Isshiki Kazari. The sculptures were/are made as offerings for the local shrine, but nowadays as part of the matsuri they hold a competition to choose the best each year.

I was taken by these komainu in a tableau of the shrine. The competition entries are temporarily on display around the old part of town, although there are many other more permanent examples that are not part of the competition