Ritsurin Garden


Ritsurin Garden is a large, historic garden in Takamatsu, 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.
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 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.
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History

The buildings in the garden date back to the early 17th century. In 1625, the feudal lord of Takamatsu in Sanuki Province, Ikoma Takatoshi, began construction of Ritsurin, specifically the building of a garden around the South Pond using the beautiful greenery of Mt. Shiun as a backdrop. After Matsudaira Yorishige 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.
Among the features of the garden are:
  • Kikugetsu-tei : This teahouse located in the southern section of the garden was built in the early years of the Edo period.
  • 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
  • Nan-ko
The many ponds and streams are full of koi, sometimes fed by visitors.

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