Manju-ji Temple Gardens

 

Manju-ji Temple in Matsue has a delightful pond garden behind the main hall, and an extensive, well-manicured karesansui garden in the front.

It is a large Rinzai Zen temple at the top of the narrow Okutani valley to the north of the castle.

Entry to the temple and garden is free, but the temple remains off the tourist radar.

The temple was established in a different location in 1600, some years before the castle was built.

Its original name was Chojuin.

In 1644 it was moved to its current location after being given the site by Naomasa Matsudaira, the new daimyo of the castle.

At that time it was renamed Shobuyama Chojuji.

Later the name was changed to Manju-ji, though a big fire in 1848 destroyed all records, so the date is unknown.

When I visited in June, the azaleas were in bloom, which added to the visit.

One curious feature, seen in photo 4, is an Imperial Messenger Gate in front of the main hall.

To the right of the main hall is a Kannon Hall, and above it is a Myoken Shrine which enshrines Marishiten, Benzaiten, Daikokuten, and Aizen Myoo. From the shrine you can look down on the pond garden.

The front garden is quite sparse, but subtle.

One nice touch was the small turtle at the centre of the concentric circle of ridges.... exactly how it would appear when a turtle surfaces in a pond.

I can find no date or creator for the rear garden, but it appears to be fairly standard.

There is a small one-room teahouse.

And a few koi in the pond.

The previous post in this series on Matsue and Izumo was on Kanden-an, the remarkable samurai teahouse, villa, and gardens not too far from Monjuji Temple.

Matsue has an unusually large number of quality gardens, in large part due to the legacy of the great Tea Master, Fumai Matsudaira, the daimyo of Matsue Castle.

Some recent garden posts from Matsue I recommend would be Fumon-in temple, garden and Teahouse, the gardens at Lafcadio Heans House, and the garden at Gesshoji Temple.

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Kanden-an. Samurai Villa with Teahouse, Bathhouse, & Garden designed by a Warlord

 

Kanden-an was the country retreat for the Arisawa family, the chief  retainers of the Matsudaira who controlled Matsue Domain from the nearby castle.

Open to the public on weekends for part of the year, it is not on most tourists' radar, but is a National Historic Site, a National Scenic Site, and an Important Cultural Property.

Located a couple of kilometers from the castle, the way to the villa is along a footpath through the woods until you reach the original gate that would have been used by guests.

It is no longer in use and so visitors now follow the scenic main path up to the villa.

The land was given to the Arisawa by Matsudaira Naomasa, the first Matsudaira Lord of the Matsue Domain.

The 5th head of the Arisawa taught tea ceremony to Matsudaira Fumai when he was a child. Fumai became a great Tea Master and is why Matsue is one of the three main tea ceremony centres in Japan.

The 6th head of the Arisawa, Kazuyoshi, was taught tea ceremony by Fumai and was a great favourite of Fumai.

Meimei-an, another teahouse in Matsue worth visiting was built by Fumai for Kazuyoshi in the Arisawa main residence near the castle.

The teahouse, bathhouse, and garden here at Kanden-an are said to have been designed by Fumai.

Visitors now arrive first at the main villa, built in 1792. If you choose to have tea on your visit, this is where you will have it, looking out over the simple garden and down towards the castle.

The stonework of the paths are very striking, although the garden itself is simply rows of pruned bushes.

Many of the gardens in the Matsue and Izumo area were designed by Fumai's head garden designer, Sawa Gentan, and he is responsible for the Izumo Style Garden. However, it seems he was not involved here, and the garden was designed by Fumai.

Adjacent to the main house is the thatched teahouse, also built in 1792. Unfortunately, it cannot be entered.

From the teahouse, a path leads up to the bathhouse.

Originally, this is where the path for guests would arrive, and the bathhouse was a waiting area for guests before going to the teahouse.

Wating areas for guests to a tea ceremony are quite common, but I don't remember seeing a bathhouse before.

This is not the kind of bathhouse with a tub; rather, it is often called a sauna.

I went to one of these on a visit to Beppu, with a low entrance, dark inside, and a few centimeters of hot water. I was told that such types of bathhouse used to be fairly common.

From the bathhouse visitors head back down to the teahouse and then through a gate to the main villa, in much the same way as visitors would originally.

Though only a few kilometers from the castle, it is said that Fumai used to enjoy his time here.

Kanden-an is still owned by the Arisawa Family.

Other teahouses with gardens near Matsue Castle include the aforementioned Meimei-an, and also the Kangetsu-an

The previous post in this series on Matsue was on the exciting modern architecture of the Kunibiki Messe Conference Centre.

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.