is a large, historic garden in

Takamatsu 270px, Takamatsu City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Takamatsu city center 270px, View from Yashima to Takashima port is a city located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 414,134 in 190120 households and a popul ...

, Japan. It was completed in 1745 as a private strolling garden and villa for the local feudal lords, and opened to the public in 1875. Ritsurin is one of the largest strolling gardens in Japan, and a major tourist attraction for

Kagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kagawa Prefecture has a population of 949,358 (as of 2020) and is the smallest prefecture by geographic area at . Kagawa Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the southwest and Tok ...

. Ritsurin Garden lies in a former river bed on the east side of Mt. Shiun. Numerous ponds and small artificial hills dot the garden. The southern portion is in traditional Japanese style, with historic teahouses and numerous shaped pine trees. After becoming a public garden in 1875, the north portion underwent Western-style redesigns, and a large museum (currently the multipurpose Commerce and Industry Promotion Hall) and folk craft galleries were built in the center of the garden. For a time, the garden even housed a zoo and swimming pool, since closed and removed.

History

The buildings in the garden date back to the early 17th century. In 1625, the feudal lord of

Sanuki Province was a province of Japan in the area of northeastern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Sanuki''" in . Sanuki bordered on Awa to the south, and Iyo to the west. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō system ...

, Ikoma Takatoshi, began construction of Ritsurin, specifically the building of a garden around the South Pond using the beautiful greenery of Mt. Shiun ("Purple Cloud Mountain") as a backdrop. After

Matsudaira Yorishige was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period, who ruled the Takamatsu Domain. Yorishige was the first son of Tokugawa Yorifusa, and Tokugawa Mitsukuni was the third son of Tokugawa Yorifusa, the first Tokugawa ''daimyō'' of Mito Domain ...

took control of the province, he continued the garden's construction. Work was completed by the Fifth Lord Yoritaka in 1745 after 100 years of improvements and extensions made by successive lords. The new Meiji government came to power in 1868 and requisitioned the garden. Despite an initial proposal to build a silk mill, Ritsurin was designated a prefectural garden and opened to the public on 16 March 1875. In 1953, the garden was designated a Special Place of Scenic Beauty.

Features

The garden covers 750,000 square meters.Mansfield. Page 83. Among the features of the garden are: * Kikugetsu-tei (Moon Scooping Pavilion): This teahouse located in the southern section of the garden was built in the early years of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

(around 1640). * Hakomatsu: Carefully cultivated black pine trees; their branches, twigs, and needles are elaborately trimmed into geometrical shapes and figures. * Hiraiho and Fuyō-ho: two artificial mountains * Wild Duck Hunting Moat * Sai-ko (Western Lake) * Nan-ko (Southern Lake) The many ponds and streams are full of koi, sometimes fed by visitors.

Gallery

File:Ritsurin gun o pond0006.jpg, Gun_o Pond File:Ritsurin park04s3200.jpg, Mt. Shiun File:Ritsurin park17bs3300.jpg, Sai-ko File:150504 Ritsurin Park Takamatsu Kagawa pref Japan02s3.jpg, Nan-ko File:Ritsurin_Garden_小普陀の石組.jpg, Rock formation File:Ritsurin Garden 掬月亭.jpg File:Ritsurin_park02s3200.jpg File:Ritsurin_park05s3200.jpg File:Ritsurin_park16s3200.jpg File:150504 Ritsurin Park Takamatsu Kagawa pref Japan01s3.jpg File:Ritsurin.JPG File:Ritsurin Garden 20170610-1.jpg File:Ritsurin Garden 20170610-2.jpg File:Ritsurin Garden 20170610-3.jpg

Access

JR Shikoku The , commonly known as , is the smallest of the seven constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates of intercity and local rail services in the four prefectures on the island of Shikoku in Japan. The company has ...

: Kōtoku Line,

Ritsurin-Kōen-Kitaguchi Station is a passenger railway station located in the city of Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by JR Shikoku and has the station number "T26". Lines The station is served by the JR Shikoku Kōtoku Line and is located 3.2 km from ...

* Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad (Kotoden):

Ritsurin-Kōen Station is a passenger railway station operated by the Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad in Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan. It is operated by the private transportation company Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad (Kotoden) and is designated station "K03 ...

Kotoden Bus The (or Kotoden) is a transportation company in Kagawa Prefecture, which is on the island of Shikoku, Japan. With headquarters in Takamatsu, Kagawa, Takamatsu, the company operates three passenger railway lines, as well as bus subsidiaries. It was ...

: Ritsurin Kōen Mae stop * Kōsoku Bus Ritsurin Kōen Mae stop

References

Bibliography

External links

Ritsurin GardenComprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan
Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties * {{Authority control Gardens in Japan Gardens in Kagawa Prefecture Special Places of Scenic Beauty