Rikugien - a beautiful Daimyo garden from the Edo era

It is too pitiful for myself to miss the scenery of Japanese gardens like Rikugien under the perfect May weather. Thanks Daimyos and the constrain of the feudel society from centuries ago, for leaving such beautiful garden. Here's why I appreciate in such way.

"Daimyo" is the Japanese word that means powerful feudal load. They were the head of the military bands during the civil war era (late 1500s - late 1600's) as well as the administration of their local territories. Once the Tokugawa's band conquers the entire country then started Edo Bakufu (Bakufu = feudal government) in 1603, Tokugawa provided all of the regional lands, outside of the capital city of Edo (now called Tokyo), to the survived Daimyos after the civil war period, as the local administration of the regions throughout the country, ruled by the central Tokugawa's Bakufu.

In return of the receiving such regional authority, Daimyos must contribute their royalty to Tokugawa. Daimyos are required to stay in Edo for one year in every two years. It means that they will stay at Edo for half of their remaining career as a Daimyo. The expense for traveling to and staying in Edo are at the Daimyos' own expense. This system is called "Sankin-koutai". The Tokugawa's objective for Sankin-koutai is to limit the power and freedom of Daimyos as a prevention from rebel. Daimyos had to build their mansions in Edo as accommodations. What came afterhand is that the Daimyos competed each others in building better mansions especially in it's size and beauty. Making of gardens in the property was the important tool to express their power in such competition. 

Rikugien is one of the remaining gardens among these. It is the garden of Daimyo, Yoshiyasu Yanagisawa, a head of the regional administraion of Kai (where is called Yamanashi pref. nowadays) then later became a high-ranked official in the Tokugawa Bakufu. The garden was built in 1702 and survived through numbers of tragedies such as great fire in the city of Edo, the great earthquake in 1923, and air raid during WWII despite it's large as nearly 90,000 meter in the heart of the city.

 

 

There are a few other Daimyo gardens in Tokyo, and I will introduce them with further posts.