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Katsura Rikyu - Page 2

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When most people think of a Japanese garden, they probably picture a garden that is intended to be viewed from within a house. This does describe most traditional Japanese gardens. When the shoji screens which separate the house from the garden are pushed aside, the house becomes a garden pavilion and the garden becomes a work of art to be viewed from within the house.

The islands of Japan are dominated by mountains. This isn't surprising when you realize that the islands are actually summits of a huge chain of undersea mountains. Only fifteen to eighteen percent of Japan is considered to be arable, so ornamental gardens have always tended to be small and large gardens have always been displays of wealth and power.

A number of large gardens were created during the Edo Period . These gardens look similar to the large gardens of the Heian Period because they always feature a large pond, but they are really quite different. Heian gardens were paradise gardens, they were really intended to be seen from above; they were designed more for the Buddha than for humans. The large gardens of the Edo period were very secular in intent, they were designed for the pleasure of their owners.

Heian gardens often featured paths of stepping stones, but they were mainly designed to be viewed from boats on the ponds. The large gardens of the Edo period are often called tour gardens, because while people did enjoy boating on the ponds, the gardens were primarily designed to be explored by following paths of stepping stones.

The garden of the Katsura Imperial Villa was the earliest , as well as the finest, of these tour gardens. Situated on the west bank of the Katsura River, near Kyoto, it is large by Japanese standards, but compact in comparison with some of the later tour gardens. The grounds of this villa never exceeded 14 acres.

There was a tea house on the property by 1602, but it is uncertain when the main house was begun. Some scholars think that the earliest part of the house was completed by 1616, when the wife of the retired emperor Goyozei-tenno visited the village of Katsura. Part of the house was certainly completed by 1625 , because the priest of the Konchi Temple in Kyoto described it in an account of his visit to the property.

After Prince Tomohito's death in 1629, the villa was neglected. It was damaged by several earthquakes and further damage occurred in 1632 during a violent typhoon.

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