英語学習の助けになるように日本語字幕をつけました。話している英語は生粋のイギリス英語です。字幕を日本語に選択して活用してください。
Daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings.
During the Edo period (1603-1868), which lasted 265 years, many daimyo gardens were built in the city of Edo (now central Tokyo), numbering in the hundreds or even thousands.
In this period, Edo was a garden city. It is hard to believe when you look at today's building-filled Tokyo. There are only 23 existing feudal lord's gardens in Tokyo, including these. Of these, only five metropolitan gardens have remained in almost perfect condition.
This represents only 0.5% of the total. In this video, we introduce Rikugien Garden, which is said to be the most original of these precious Daimyo gardens.
７ minutes walk from Komagome Station on JR Yamanote Line and Tokyo Metro Nanboku Line. Admission is 300 yen per adult. You can visit without reservation. Located in the north of the city center, the garden is not crowded except during peak autumn leaf colour.
Rikugi en was created in 1695, during the long period of peace in the middle of the Edo period, by the powerful feudal lord of the time, Yanagi sa wa Yoshiyasu. Rikugien is a typical feudal lord's garden, which was regarded as one of the two major Japanese gardens in Edo together with Koishikawa Korakuen Garden from the time of its creation. When Rikugien was first built, small stone pillars were erected to mark 88 points of interest, each with a waka poem attached. The ones with triangular pointed heads were made at the time of the garden's creation. Most of them were named after Waka no ura. Today, however, only 32 remain.
Rikugi en had beautiful Japanese maple trees with autumn leaves on the left as soon as you enter the garden from the main gate.
This was the site of a daimyo's mansion when the garden was first built.
The garden is divided into two sections: a 'sea view' around the perimeter and a 'mountain view' through the trees.
The garden is famous for its weeping cherry tree, shi da ray zakura and azaleas in spring. However. Rikugi en is undoubtedly the Top 1 Japanese garden in the metropolitan area for its beautiful autumn foliage.
This time, I was able to shoot a video during the autumn leaf season and would like to introduce you to the beauty of the autumn leaves, with a focus on the "mountain scenery".
A Guardstone, “Syugo-ishi”, is sometimes placed in Japanese gardens.
A guardstone is a stone of great importance that serves as a starting point in the garden's masonry and is a large, prominent stone that forms the centre of the garden landscape. Daimyo gardens usually follow the kai yu shiki style of Japanese gardens. The kai yu shiki garden has a pond at its centre, surrounded by pathways that recreate the scenic beauty of the area with small artificial hills as viewpoints called Tsukiyama, islets called nakanoshima in the pond, bridges, garden stones, etc.
Teahouses were also set up as places to rest during walks.
Rikugien is a typical circular garden. There is a pond called Daisen-sui in the centre, a small island called Nakanoshima in the centre of the pond, a small rise called Imo-no-yama on the left and Se-no-yama on the right, and a large guardstone in the middle of the small island between the two. The guardstone is shaped like a bamboo leaf and is called Tama-zasa. This stone is Kishu Ao-ishi from Wakayama.
This ao-ishi is literally blue or green in colour and is a common garden stone in Japanese gardens. The guardstone is usually the most prominent vertical megalith when viewed from the front of the pond. Similar guardstones can be found in the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden and Kiyosumi Garden in the Edo period. Imo-no-yama (Imo) means female and Se (Se-no-yama) means male, and the two are sometimes paired and called Imo-se-yama, named after the same place in and around Waka-no-ura.
