The Sesshu Garden in Autumn

 

Tuesday 25th November 2014 and I begin day 22 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage with a visit to Jyoeiji Temple in Yamaguchi City.

Jyoeiji is home to what is considered the greatest garden by Sesshu, so much so that it is simply called The Sesshu Garden.

Sesshu (1420-1506) was a famous Zen monk known mostly as a painter although he was also a garden designer.

Known for creating a distinctly Japanese style of ink-wash painting, his garden are less well known, primarily I think because the majority of the ones that survive are off the beaten tourist track in Yanaguchi, Shimane, and Oita.

I mentioned in an earlier post on the gardens at Komyozenji Temple in Dazaifu that the modern garden designer Mirei Shigemori was one of the initial inspirations for my interest in Japanese gardens, and the second major inspiration was the gardens of Sesshu.

Sesshu was born in what is now Soja in Okayama Prefecture, and the most famous legend about him concerns him as an acolyte.

As a young monk he did study in Kyoto for a while, and a very small garden attributed to him still survives there, but he spent most of his life outside of Kyoto.

The garden at Jyoeiji was designed and built for Ouchi Masanori. The Ouchi were a powerful family who ruled over Suo Province and were involved in the Onin War.

The Onin War, 1467 to 1477, laid waste to Kyoto and  is considered the beginning of the long Warring States Period.

Ouchi Masanori established Yamaguchi as haven of art and culture during this time, including inviting Sesshu.

The garden was built at Masahiro's villa, some ways from his main palace.

Later he established a temple on the site, and centuries later when the Mori Clan ruled the area they transferred Jyoeiji Temple here.

The front part of the garden is grassy with many stone arrangements.

Behind it is a large pond with numerous features.

It is a stroll-type garden with a path going around. At a high point is a gazebo overlooking the pond.

The west side of the garden is planted with bamboo and maple.

One of the main features is a large "dry waterfall" stone arrangement.

The pond features a Turtle Island, a Crane island, a boat stone, and a carp stone in front of the dry waterfall.

As well as the Sesshu Garden, the temple also has two karesansui gardens including one designed by Mirei Shigemori.

In this post I have concentrated on the autumn colours, but in later posts I will cover the karesansui gardens, the Sesshu garden in more detail, and some of the artwork and statuary at the temple.

Previously I posted on the autumn colours at Kyorinbo Temple in Shiga.

There is a lot to see in Yamaguchi City, including one of the Three Great Pagodas of Japan.

Arata Isozaki 1933 - 2022

Arata Isozaki 1933 - 2022

The famous Japanese architect Arata Isozaki passed away on December 28th, 2022.

Born in Oita, Kyushu, in 1933, he studied at Tokyo University and then worked under Kenzo Tange for a few years before opening his own office.

His earliest works seem heavily influenced by Brutalism and Metabolist styles, though his later works utilized many different styles. His works have been built all over Asia, Europe, and the USA.

He won the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Prize in 2019.

I quite like his work and have seen many of his buildings here in Western Japan.

The top photo is the Kitakyushu City Museum of Art 1972-74. I have visited it several times and will do a post on it soon. The second photo is from his hometown of Oita and was the Oita Prefectural Library which opened in 1966. After closing down it was converted into an arts centre called Art Plaza. I have 2 posts on it, one of the exterior, and a second of the interiors. The Art Plaza contains a gallery of Isozakis architectural drawings and models, so is worth a visit.

The third photo is part of the Kitakyushu International Conference Centre in Kokura, Adjacent to it is an earlier work, the West Japan General Exhibition Centre, a massive building and the photo above shows the structure that holds the roof up. The fourth photo is from the Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art in rural Okayama. Very unusual in that each of the three main buildings were designed in collaboration with artists who created the works within, including Isozaki's own wife. The three buildings I posted earlier are called Sun, Earth, and Moon. The fifth photo is part of the curved roof of the Yamaguchi Centre for Arts & Media. 

The sixth photo is also from Yamaguchi and is part of the very rural Akiyoshidai International Arts Village. I will do a full post on it soon, and I will also do a full post on the Kitakyushu City Central Library, pictured above. The final photo is the JR station at the onsen resort of Yufuin, one of Isozaki's smaller projects.

Kubota Residence Gardens

Hagi in Yamaguchi is a former castle town that is home to a lot of historical and traditional architecture including several Preservation Districts.

In the merchant district, one of the houses open to the public is the former residence of  the  Kubota Family who were drapers and later sake brewers.

Their house, built in the mid Edo Period has two small gardens, a front one walled off grom the main street, and a courtyard one viewable from three sides.

Not as grand as the gardens of the Kikuya Residence which is directly on the other side of the street, but they are pleasant enough and you will usually have the place to yourself.

four posts on the Kikuya Residence and gardens....

Chofuteien Garden

Chofuteien Garden

Chofu, a former castle town not far from Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi, was a base of the Mori Clan and though not so well known or visited is actually a delightful place for a visit.

Chofuteien is a large stroll-type garden that opened to the public in 1993. These photos are from a visit I made on November 27th, 2014, on my 24th day walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage. I had been here before in the late spring when everything was green, but the autumn colors were really spectacular.

It is on the site of the former manor of Nishi Yukinaga, the most senior of the Mori vassals.

In the middle of the 31,000 sq meter garden is a large pond, with koi, and a couple of bridges over it as well as stepping stones.

There is a small teahouse looking over the pond and a large summer house as well as a couple of white-walled storehoues, one of which hosts exhibitions.

The path heads up into the woods to a waterfall and heads back down to the storehouses through a bamboo grove and areas planted in a variety of seasonal flowers.

There are two more gardens in the old town, one a temple garden in a large Zen temple, and the other in the Mori Mansion. If readers requested it I could post on them soon.

Buy dokudami tea from Japan

A Walk Across Akiyoshidai

Akiyoshidai, a karst of about 100 square kilometers in central Yamaguchi Prefecture is the largest limestone plateau in Japan.

About 300 million years ago it was a coral reef under the ocean. With limestone being soluble in water karsts tend to have lots of underground water and therefore lots of caves and caverns. Underneath Akiyoshidai is Akiyoshido, the largest cavern in all of Japan.

The surface of the plateau has lots of sinkholes which makes for a very uneven landscape. There are also loads of rock pinnacle sticking up.

In the late autumn when I walked across it there was a lot of Japanese pampas grass growing. It is a very unusual landscape for Japan. It is semi artificial in that every year the dried grass covering the plateau is burned which tends to inhibit the growth of trees and stops the landscape reverting to forest.