Senshukaku Pond Garden

 

Senshukaku is a name given to the Daimyo gardens of the former palace in the ruins of Tokushima Castle.

While not a particularly large garden, it does consist of two quite distinct parts, a karesansui section and a pond section.

I covered the karesansui section in the previous post in this series.

Both gardens featured a lot of stone, specifically a type of stone called Awa Bluestone.

The castle was built in 1586, and the garden design is attributed to Ueda Soko, a famed warrior and tea master.

The pond is fed by the tidal river.

The name Senshukaku is a modern one, and it was the name of the lodgings built on the site for the Taishō Emperor when he visited as crown prince.

The named features within the pond garden are fairly typical..... a dry waterfall, a boat stone, etc

Some sections of the garden are reminiscent of the stone garden at Kokawadera Temple in Wakayama, also designed by Ueda Soko.

It is believed that Ueda Soko was a big influence on Mirei Shigemori

With several more good gardens in the vicinity, Tokushima is worth a visit for garden enthusiasts...

The previous post in this series was on the karesansui half of the garden.

if you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published or made public. I post new content almost every day, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the most recent posts.