Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Hofukuji Temple in Soja

 


Hofukuji Temple is an historic Zen temple in Soja, Okayama.


It is most well known as being the temple where Sesshu trained as a child.


Sesshu, or Sesshu Toyo, was born around 1420 to a samurai family in what is now Soja City.


He went on to become a zen monk and one of the greatest Japanese painters.


He is also known for his gardens.


The most famous story connected to his time at Hofukuji was the story of Sesshu and the Rat


It is not known exactly when the temple was founded, but was originally of the Tendai Sect.


In 1232 it was converted into a Rinzai Zen temple, one of the first in the area.


It received Imperial patronage and grew powerful with more than 50 sub-temples and 300 branch temples at its peak.


In 1575 almost the whole temple was burned down during the Bitchu War, but the 3-story pagoda survived. It has been reliably dated to 1376 and is an Important Cultural Property and the oldest structure still standing here.


The rest of the temple was restored during the Edo Period. The main hall dates to 1735.


Other treasures include the 15th century temple bell, and several silk paintings.


There are two small gardens, a karesansui raked sand one, and a small pond garden.


Hofukuji is a great spot for autumn foliage.


At this time, the Hojo, the Abbots living quarters, are open to the public and paintings by Sesshu and other items relating to Sesshu's time at the temple are on display.


On this visit I was at the start of my 7th day walking the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.


The previous post in the series was on Shorenji Temple in Takahashi.


Sesshu is one of my favorite garden designers, and over the years I have visited almost all of his gardens that still exist, but have not posted many on this blog.




Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Orii Family Samurai Residence & Garden

 

The former Orii family residence in the castle town of Takahashi in Okayama was a fairly high-ranking samurai home built in the late Edo Period.


Placed around the property are various mannequins dressed in period costume including a suitably obsequious servant.


I found it a little creepy. In a museum when viewing a historical tableau, then it seems OK, but when you can walk around in the space I find it somehow distracting.


As this is next door to the Haibara Residence, it would suggest that the two samurai families were of a similar ranking, but as this one is closer to castle I would guess slightly higher ranked.
 

As the photo below shows, there were two separate entrances: one for receiving guests and one for daily life.


All the rooms of the property are open to visitors.


The gardens are nice enough, but nothing special and did not seem well tended. The gardens next door were better in my opinion.


There is a also a museum displaying armour, weapons etc


There are a variety of joint-entry tickets including the neighbouring samurai residence, the castle, and Raikyuji Temple.


These photos are from August, 2014 while I was on day 6 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage. The previous post was the Haibara Samurai Residence next door.





Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Haibara Samurai Residence

 


The former Haibara Samurai Residence is located in Takahashi, the castle town in the mountains of central Okayama, on the Takahashi River.


It is on a road of former samurai residences at the north of the town, near the base of the mountain on top of which sits Bitchi Matsuyama Castle, known as the highest castle in Japan.


At 430 meters above sea level, it is one of the few castles remaining in Japan with an original tenshu, or keep, and the only mountaintop castle with an original keep.


The former Haibara Residence was built about 170 years ago at the end of the Edo Period.


Unusual for a samurai residence, it was built in what is known as sukiya-style, normally associated with temples and teahouses.


Numerous artifacts including furniture and some armour are on display.


The gardens have also been kept in their original form.


There is a joint entry ticket to this house and the slightly more impressive Orii House next door which I will post about next.




Takahashi is a little off the main tourist routes, but is well worth a visit. While it is not a Preservation District, it has plenty of traditional architecture as well as the amazing castle, some lovely temples, and just outside town a great modern art museum.


On this visit, my second to Takahashi, I was on day 6 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage.


The previous post was on nearby Raikyuji Temple which was used as a home by the daimyo and has an amazing garden by Kobori Enshu.