Showing posts with label matsue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label matsue. Show all posts

Monday, July 3, 2023

Meimei-an Teahouse Gardens

 


A Teahouse Garden, called roji or chatei, differs from the other two main types of Japanese garden, the karesansui, dry garden, often called zen garden, and the chisen-teien, or pond garden, and of course shares some features with them.


The Teahouse is meant to represent a rustic mountain hut, and the roji is what is passed through to reach the teahouse and therefore is the first part of the tea ceremony itself.


These photos are from Meimei-an, a  traditional teahouse in Matsue associated with the great Tea Master Fumai Matsudaira.


A fundamental feature of the roji will be the stones that make up the path to the teahouse. Tobiishi are stepping stones, and Nobedan, sometimes called tatami-ishi, are paving stones.


The path will pass by a Tsukubai, a washbasin where the visitor will purify themselves. Usually there will be a lantern behind the tsukubai.


All of the different stones arranged around the tsukubai have different names and functions.


These last two photos are of the garden of the Akayama Tea Ceremony Hall, open to the public where visitors can enjoy a cup of matcha with traditional sweets while enjoying the view of the Meimei-an Teahouse


Friday, June 30, 2023

Meimei-an Teahouse

 


Meimei-an is an Edo Period teahouse in Matsue, Shimane, with connections to Matsudaira Fumai, the famous Tea Ceremony Master who was Daimyo of the Matsue Domain and whose castle can be seen from the teahouse.


It was built in 1779 and originally stood nearby in the grounds of the Arisawa Family, high-ranking vassals of the domain. Fumai was instrumental in bringing Tea Ceremony culture to his domain and vassals and he was a frequent visitor to Meimei-an.


It was dismantled and rebuilt in Tokyo in the Meiji Period but later came back to Matsue where it moved several times before its current location where it was restored in 1966.


It is the type of teahouse styled after a rustic mountain hut that was popularized by the great Tea Master Sen no Rikyu.


It is not possible to enter Meimei-an, but can be looked into through open doors and screens.


Immediately adjacent to Meomei-an is the Akayama Tea Ceremony Hall used as a site for various Tea Ceremony groups but also open to the public and where you can have a green tea with sweets while enjoying the view of Meimei-an.


I will cover the gardens around Meimei-an in the next post. Fumai Matsudaira made Matsue one of the three main tea ceremony centres of Japan and there are numerous other sites around the town connected to him and the tea ceremony.


In the nearby Matsue History Museum is a reconstruction of another Teahouse favored by Fumai as well as displays on him and the tea ceremony. Not far from the castle is Gesshoji Temple, the Matsudaira family temple where they were buried. It also has a collection of historic tea ceremony utensils owned by Fumai, as well as one of his favorite gardens.


The previous post in this series exploring Matsue was the samurai mansion just below Meimei-an.


The next post is on the roji, the garden of the teahouse.

Sunday, April 30, 2023

Matsue Buke Yashiki & Gardens

 


A Buke Yashiki is best translated as samurai residence, and this one in the castle town of Matsue belonged to middle -ranked samurai.


It is located on the north side of the moat around the castle on what is now called Shiome Nawate, and is close to another former samurai residence that was the home of Lafcadio Hearn.


Starting in 2016 the residence and gardens have been restored bsed upon Meiji-era drawings of the property.


The rear garden is in Izumo style.


It was originally built in 1733 and it is believed that Kobei Shiomi, after whom this street is now named, lived here. Higher ranking samurai lived across the moat within the castle walls.


Prior to the renovations, it actually wasn't much of an attraction, but with now it is well worth a visit.


The previous post in this series on Izumo and Matsue was the nearby Lafcadio Hearn home and garden.

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Lafcadio Hearn's House & Gardens

Lafcadio Hearn's House & Gardens


Lafcadio Hearn was one of the first foreign writers in Japan whose books are still very popular today. Kwaidan, his book of ghost stories, and Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan are two titles that are perhaps the most well-known, and the latter is what I have shamelessly cribbed for the title of my own blog.


He spent about a year living in the castle town of Matsue in Shimane where he gathered much of the material for "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan" and where he married and lived with his wife, the daughter of a local samurai.


The house where he lived for six months is located on Shiomi Nawate, a street of former samurai homes on the north bank of the castle moat.


Hearn, who took Japanese citizenship and the name Koizumi Yakumo, was particularly fond of the gardens in his samurai home.


It is not a very large house, though there is a little furniture and some artwork around. There is almost no infomation, for that you need to go next door.


Immediately adjacent to the former residence is the Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum which has a lot of permanent displays on Lafcadio Hearn and his life and works as well as changing temporary exhibitions on related subjects. On a visit, you may meet the curator, a great-grandson of Hearn.


The previous post in the series is the Gesshoji Temple garden.


Monday, December 12, 2022

Gesshoji Temple Gardens

Japan Travel


Gesshoji Temple is located against the hillside to the west of Matsue castle, one of the dozen remaining castles in Japan.


It was originally a small Zen temple called Toun-ji, but in 1664 the first of the Matsudaira lords of the castle, Naomasa, the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, changed it to a Jodo temple and installed the mortuary tablet of his mother here.


Following Naomasa's death, his son built his father's tomb here and since then it has been their family temple.


I recently posted on some of the tombs and the "giant" tortoise made famous by Lafcadio Hearn.


The temple grounds are known for their hydrangeas, but there is also a formal garden.


This is in Izumo-style, a feature of which is rectangular stones intermixed with rounded stones.


The garden was enjoyed by Matsudaira Fumai, a renowned tea-master.


Adjacent to the main garden is a smaller garden viewable from the tea room.


Later I will show some of the statues at the temple and some of the artifacts in the treasure house.


Thursday, September 22, 2022

Gesshoji Temple Matsudaira Tombs

Gesshoji Temple Matsudaira Tombs


Gesshoji Temple lies to the west of Matsue Castle and was used by the ruling Matsudaira clan as their funerary temple where tombs of succeeding daimyo were built


Consequently, the grounds are rather spacious, and not that well visited. 


The tomb of each daimyo has its own gate and there are plenty of stone lanterns given by vassals.


The gardens have a lot of hydrangeas, so in June and July it sees more visitors.


There are also Irises, cherry blossoms, and of course autumn foliage. There is a treasure hall with tea utensils and other artifacts from the clan, and a fine garden which I will cover in a later post.


Some of the gates to the tombs have some nice carvings, one in particular, the tomb of the 6th lord,  has a fine pair of carvings.


Thanks to Lafcadio Hearn, who lived nearby for less than a year, the most famous thing in the grounds is the giant stone turtle. He told how the turtle would wander around the area at night so the local residents placed the huge slab of stone on its back to prevent it....